'■ws:  ;::i.v:y 


,  mmmmm    !       :  *  ®  >■■■     \ 


"4,  > 


?*7  PRINCETON,    N.  J.  <f> 


Purchased    by  the 
Mrs.    Robert   Lenox    Kennedy  Church   History   Fund. 


BX  4875  .B62  1897 
Bompiani,  Sofia,  b.  1835. 
A  short  history  of  the 
Italian  Waldenses  who  have 


A  SHORT  HISTORY 

OF 

THE    ITALIAN    WALDENSES 


MAP    OF    THE    WALDENSIAN   VALLEYS  ;    THE    CHURCHES 
AND    STATIONS    OF    THE    MISSION. 


A  SHORT   HISTORY 


OF 


The  Italian  Waldenses 

WHO   HAVE  INHABITED   THE  VALLEYS 
OF  THE   COTTIAN   ALPS 

jftom  Ancient  Eimm  to  tlje  Present 


SOPHIA   V.  BOMPIANI 

AUTHOR  OF   "ITALIAN   EXPLORERS  IN  AFRICA" 


NEW   YORK 
A.  S.  BARNES   AND   COMPANY 

LONDON:  HODDER  &  STOUGHTON 
l897 


Copyright,  1S97, 
By  A.  S.  Barnes  &  Co. 


All  rights  reserved. 


John  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambridge,  U.S.A. 


PREFACE. 


The  present  generation  of  Italian  Waldenses, 
with  that  firmness  characteristic  of  the  race, 
believe  that  their  forefathers  lived  in  the  Val- 
leys of  the  Cottian  Alps  from  "  time  imme- 
morial." Without  documents  to  prove  their 
existence  as  evangelical  Christians  in  these 
Valleys  previous  to  the  time  of  Peter  Waldo 
in  the  twelfth  century,  they  yet  obstinately 
reject  the  theory  that  he  was  their  founder. 
They  pay  him  no  especial  honor  as  do  Lu- 
therans to  Luther  ;  Wesleyans  to  Wesley  ; 
Calvinists  to  Calvin  ;  Mahometans  to  Ma- 
homet;  Buddhists  to  Buddha. 

Unable  to  prove  these  traditions  of  their 
more  ancient  origin,  they  listen  with  respect, 
but  without  assent,  to  the  documented  histories 
of  their  race,  dating  from  Peter  Waldo,  written 
by  some  of  their  most  learned  professors.     In 


Preface 

truth  there  is  little  to  say  against  these  conclu- 
sions except  the  traditions  and  convictions  of 
an  ancient  race  fixed  for  centuries  in  the  same 
locality,  and  the  rare  traces  of  them  found  in 
the  writings  of  their  enemies.  These  few  argu- 
ments found  in  the  writings  of  other  historians 
of  the  Waldenses  I  have  gathered  for  this 
modest  little  work. 

S.  B. 

Rome,  Italy,  1897. 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  Page 

I.  The  Israel  of  the  Alps i 

II.  The  Diocese  of  Bishop  Claudio  of  Turin 

in  the  Ninth  Century 12 

III.  Who  were  the  Albigenses  ? 20 

IV.  Antiquity    of    the    Waldenses    before 

Peter  Waldo 25 

V.  The  "Noble  Lesson" 32 

VI.  Calumnies  and   Oppressions  of  the  In- 
quisitors       40 

VII.  Geographical  Position  and  Colonies     .  48 

VIII.  The  Ministers,  or  "  Barbes  " 55 

IX.  Persecution  begun  in  the  year  1476 .    .  63 

X.  Persecution  of  A.D.  1561 70 

XL  Persecution  of  Easter,  1655 78 

XII.   The   Glorious  Return    in    1689       ...  86 

XIII.  Extirpation  of  the  Colony  in  Calabria  94 

XIV.  Language  changed  after    the  Pest  in 

^30 102 

XV.  Heroes m 


Contents 

Chapter  Page 

XVI.  Martyrs 120 

XVII.   Women   .    „ 130 

XVIII.  Friends  —General  Beckwith 140 

XIX.  Emancipation  in  1848 148 

XX.  A.D.  1889.  —  Bi-Centenary  of  "Glorious 

Return" 156 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Map  of  the  Waldensian  Valleys  ;  the  Churches 

and  Stations  of  the  Mission  .  .  .  Frontispiece 
Torre  Pellice,  the  Capital  of  the  Valleys  To  face  p.  5 
Entrance  to  Torre  Pellice,   Roman    Catholic 

Church 15 

Waldensian  Church  at  San  Giovanni  ....  23 

Cascade  of  the  Pis  at  Massello 57 

School  of  the  Barbes  at  PrA  del  Torno,  An- 

grogna .  57 

Waldensian  Church  at  Angrogna 62 

From  Angrogna  to  PrA  del  Torno 67 

Angrogna 75 

Route  of  Return  of  Waldensian   People  from 

Switzerland  through  Savoy 87 

Portrait  of  Catinat 89 

Portrait  of  Henri  Arnaud 91 

Portrait  of  Victor   Amedeus,  Duke  of    Savoy 

and  Prince  of  Piedmont 93 

From  an  engraving  by  De  l'Amerssini,  published  in  Paris,  1684. 

Prangins,  Lake  Leman,  from  a  print     .    .    .     .  115 

Siege  of  Balsiglia,  from  an  old  print  ....  157 

Waldensian  Residence  and  Museum 159 

Badges 159 


A   SHORT   HISTORY 


OF   THE 


ITALIAN    WALDENSES 


CHAPTER    I 

THE    ISRAEL    OF   THE   ALPS 

In  the  valleys  of  the  Cottian  Alps,  between 
Mount  Cenis  and  Mount  Viso,  a  Bible-loving 
people  have  lived  from  "time  immemorial." 
They  have  been  persecuted  and  exiled  by  the 
Bible-hating  power  which  has  its  seat  in 
Rome;  but  after  exile  they  returned  to  their 
green  valleys,  and  after  persecution  they  were 
not  destroyed.  Now,  like  a  healthy  vine 
which  has  its  roots  in  those  valleys,  the 
branches  of  this  primitive  Church  spread  out 
over  all  the  Italian  peninsula. 

It  has  churches  in  all  the  great  cities,  — 
in  Turin,  Milan,  Venice,  Florence,  Genoa, 
Rome,  Naples,  Palermo,  Messina,  and  even 
at  Vittoria,  a  small  town  at  the  extremity  of 
Sicily.     It   has  forty-four  pastors   and   fifty- 


2  The  Italian  Waldenses 

four  hundred  members  in  the  mission  churches 
of  the  peninsula,  and  twenty-two  pastors  and 
thirteen  thousand  five  hundred  members  in 
the  valleys.  This  hath  God  wrought  for  the 
Waldenses.  They  "  kept  the  faith  so  pure  of 
old,"  spite  of  torture,  cold,  destitution,  and 
loss  of  life  on  the  Alpine  mountains.  They 
were  burned;  they  were  cast  into  damp  and 
horrid  dungeons;  they  were  smothered  in 
crowds  in  mountain  caverns,  —  mothers  and 
babes,  and  old  men  and  women  together; 
they  were  sent  out  into  exile  of  a  winter 
night,  unclothed  and  unfed,  to  climb  the 
snowy  mountains ;  they  were  hurled  over  the 
rocks;  their  heads  were  used  as  footballs; 
their  houses  and  lands  were  taken  from  them, 
and  their  little  children  were  stolen  to  be 
educated  in  the  religion  they  abhorred.  Yet 
they  refused  to  acknowledge  the  Roman  pon- 
tiff as  the  Vicar  of  Christ ;  to  bow  down  to 
the  wafer  and  believe  it  the  body  of  Christ; 
to  confess  to  priests,  or  to  give  up  the  Bible. 

Long  before  the  German  Reformation  they 
were  an  evangelical  people,  loving  the  Bible 
above  all  things:  making  translations  of  it 
into  the  vulgar  tongue ;  spreading  it  abroad  in 
Bohemia,  in  Germany,  in  France  and  in  Italy. 
They  taught  their  children  to  memorize  whole 


The   Israel  of  the  Alps  3 

chapters,  so  that  whatever  might  befall  the 
written  copies  of  the  Bible,  large  portions  of 
it  might  be  secure  in  the  memories  of  their 
youths  and  maidens.  In  secret  meetings, 
when  they  went  by  night  barefooted,  or  with 
shoes  bound  with  rags,  so  that  they  might  not 
be  heard  in  passing,  it  was  their  custom  to 
listen  to  the  Gospels  recited  in  turn  by  the 
young,  each  one  responsible  for  a  certain 
portion. 

In  spite  of  all  their  sorrows,  often  occa- 
sioned by  the  weakness  or  bigotry  of  the 
dukes  and  duchesses  of  Savoy,  of  whom  they 
were  the  subjects,  the  Waldenses  never  failed 
in  patriotic  love  and  service  to  their  country. 

They  are  and  always  have  been  Italians,  but 
were  often  driven  by  the  persecutions  of  the 
middle  ages  into  the  French  valleys,  where 
they  found  brethren  of  the  same  faith,  and 
learned  their  language.  Beaten  about  like 
the  waves  of  the  sea,  backward  and  forward, 
they  had  no  rest.  At  one  time  thirteen  out 
of  fifteen  of  their  pastors  died  of  the  plague, 
and  they  were  obliged  to  send  to  Geneva  for 
French  pastors,  who  introduced  the  French 
language  into  the  valleys.  Their  prince, 
Victor  Amedeus  II.,  Duke  of  Savoy,  urged  to 
do  so  by  Louis  XIV.  of  France,  and  by  the 


4  The  Italian  Waldenses 

Pope,  drove  them  with  cruel  persecution  into 
Switzerland. 

Yet,  when  the  tide  changed,  and  they  by  an 
heroic  march  had  returned,  —  when  he  had 
need  of  them  to  guard  the  Alps  against  the 
inroads  of  that  same  Louis  XIV.  who  had 
persuaded  him  to  drive  them  away,  —  they 
gave  him  true  and  loyal  service.  Until  the 
year  1848  they  were  shut  up  in  their  moun- 
tains without  civil  rights,  —  the  very  pariahs 
and  outcasts  of  Italy.  A  Waldensian  could 
not  exercise  a  learned  profession,  or  take  a 
regular  course  of  study  in  the  universities  of 
Italy,  or  worship  according  to  his  faith  out- 
side of  the  valleys.  Yet  they  were  ever  ready 
to  greet  their  princes  with  respect  and  fealty 
on  the  rare  visits  made  them,  and  no  Italians 
have  been  more  faithful  to  the  established 
government  since  their  admission  by  the 
statnto  to  equal  civil  and  religious  rights 
with  other  citizens.  Fervent  prayers  are  sent 
up  every  Sunday  to  the  throne  of  grace  from 
every  Waldensian  pulpit  in  Italy  for  the  wel- 
fare of  "King  Humbert,  Queen  Margaret, 
Victor  Emanuel  Ferdinand,  Prince  of  Naples; 
for  the  Senate,  the  Parliament,  and  all  others 
in  authority." 

No  trace  of  bitterness  or  revenge  is  evident 


The  Israel  of  the  Alps  5 

against  those  who  once  persecuted  their  race 
to  the  death.  But  yet  they  are  faithful  to  the 
oath  taken  two  hundred  years  ago  at  Sibaud, 
in  the  valleys,  when,  on  their  return  from 
three  years  and  a  half  of  exile,  they  swore  to 
drag  their  fellow-countrymen  away  by  every 
means  in  their  power  from  the  Babylonian 
woe.  This  missionary  spirit  has  possessed 
them  always. 

Their  pastors  or  barbes  went,  two  by  two, 
dressed  in  long  brown  woollen  gowns,  over 
all  Italy  to  evangelize  in  the  thirteenth,  four- 
teenth, and  fifteenth  centuries.  They  had 
churches  and  adherents  in  every  town  and 
city,  and  were  always  the  guests  of  their  own 
people. 

With  the  dawn  of  liberty  in  1848,  they 
awoke  to  new  missionary  life  and  vigor. 
Churches  and  stations  were  established,  and 
a  committee  of  five  pastors  was  appointed  to 
collect  money  from  Protestant  Christians  in 
other  countries.  Seventy  thousand  dollars 
are  now  needed  annually  for  the  wants  of  the 
mission  churches.  All  this  must  be  collected 
little  by  little,  —  a  heavy  task  for  those  who 
engage  in  the  arduous  work.  The  Waldenses 
own  their  church  buildings  in  the  principal 
cities.     The    beautiful    edifice    on    the   Via 


6  The  Italian  Waldenses 

Nazionale,  in  Rome,  dedicated  in  the  year 
1885,  is  built  on  a  foundation  of  gray  granite 
brought  from  the  valleys. 

The  very  rocks  that  were  often  bathed  in 
the  blood  of  maidens  and  babes  and  old  men, 
—  innocent  or  conscious  martyrs  to  their 
faith,  —  now  rest  on  the  soil  of  persecuting 
Rome,  and  support  that  building  which  is  the 
ever-present  witness  to  the  goodness  of  God 
to  his  people. 

The  origin  of  the  Waldenses  is  lost  in  the 
night  of  centuries.  Their  traditions  assert 
that  they  were  driven  from  southern  Italy,  in 
the  time  of  the  second  and  third  centuries,  to 
the  Alpine  valleys,  where  they  have  ever  since 
lived.  But  they  possess  no  written  evidence 
of  this  antiquity,  and  only  believe  it  because 
from  time  to  time,  from  one  generation  to 
another,  their  forefathers  have  constantly 
asserted  it.  The  profound  conviction  of  an 
entire  race,  with  few  exceptions,  may  well  be 
considered  valuable,  even  in  the  absence  of 
written  documents.  Of  these  they  have  none 
previous  to  the  year  11 00,  when  the  "Noble 
Lesson  "  was  written.  But  many  arguments 
in  favor  of  their  early  Christian  origin  exist 
which  are  found  chiefly  in  the  voluminous 
writings    in    Latin    left    by   their    enemies. 


The  Israel  of  the  Alps  7 

There,  amidst  many  calumnies  and  false 
representations,  are  found,  like  pearls  in  the 
mud,  the  confessions  of  faith  of  the  martyrs 
and  the  claims  they  made  for  the  antiquity 
and  purity  of  their  Church.  An  Inquisitor, 
Reinerius  Sacco,  in  the  thirteenth  century, 
calling  them  the  "Leonists,"  said:  "There  is 
not  one  of  the  sects  of  ancient  heretics  more 
pernicious  to  the  Church  than  that  of  the 
Leonists;  first,  because  it  has  been  of  longer 
continuance,  for  some  say  it  has  lasted  from 
the  time  of  Pope  Sylvester,  others  from  the 
time  of  the  apostles;  second,  because  it  is 
more  diffused,  for  there  is  scarcely  any  land 
in  which  this  sect  exists  not ;  and  third,  be- 
cause the  Leonists  have  a  great  semblance 
of  piety,  inasmuch  as  they  live  justly  before 
men,  and  believe,  together  with  all  the  doc- 
trines contained  in  the  creed,  every  point 
respecting  the  Deity.  But  they  blaspheme 
the  Roman  Church  and  clergy." 

Another  writer  of  the  thirteenth  century 
says  that  "the  people  who  claimed  to  have 
existed  from  the  time  of  Pope  Sylvester  were 
the  Waldenses ;  "  while  Claude  Seyssel,  Arch- 
bishop of  Turin  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
says  that  "  the  Valdenses  of  Piedmont  derived 
from  a  person  named  Leo,  who,  in  the  time 


8  The  Italian  Waldenses 

of  the  Emperor  Constantine,  execrating  the 
avarice  of  Pope  Sylvester  and  the  immoderate 
endowment  of  the  Roman  Church,  seceded 
from  that  communion,  and  drew  after  him  all 
those  who  entertained  the  same  ideas. " 

The  Waldenses,  or  Valdenses,  or  Vaudois, 
—  men  of  the  valleys,  or  dalesmen,  — and  the 
Leonists  are  therefore  the  same. 

Long  before  the  time  of  Peter  the  Waldo 
of  Lyons,  they  bore  the  name  of  Leonists 
from  one  of  their  teachers,  named  Leo.  But 
even  he  is  not  considered  their  founder,  and 
some  of  the  present  Waldenses  believe  their 
origin  is  in  a  direct,  unbroken  line  from  the 
primitive  Christians. 

This  traditional  Leo  of  the  Waldenses  is 
no  other  than  the  famous  Vigilantius  Leo,  or 
Vigilantius,  the  Leonist  of  Lyons,  in  Aqui- 
taine,  upon  the  borders  of  the  Pyrenees,  and 
a  presbyter  of  the  church  of  Barcelona  in 
Spain.  This  holy  man  charged  Jerome  with 
too  great  a  leaning  to  the  opinions  of  Origen, 
and  wrote  a  treatise  against  the  celibacy  of 
the  clergy;  the  excessive  veneration  of  the 
martyrs  and  blind  reverence  of  their  relics; 
the  boasted  sanctity  of  monasticism  and  pil- 
grimages to  Jerusalem  or  other  sanctuaries. 
This  work  of  Vigilantius  Leo  has  been  lost, 


The  Israel  of  the  Alps  9 

but  the  violent  answer  made  to  it  by  Jerome 
still  exists.  "I  have  seen,"  says  Jerome, 
"that  monster  called  Vigilantius.  I  tried  by 
quoting  passages  of  Scripture  to  enchain  that 
infuriated  one ;  but  he  is  gone ;  he  has  escaped 
to  that  region  where  King  Cottius  reigned,  be- 
tween the  Alps  and  the  waves  of  the  Adriatic. 
From  thence  he  has  cried  out  against  me,  and, 
ah,  wickedness !  there  he  has  found  bishops 
who  share  his  crime." 

This  region,  where  King  Cottius  reigned, 
once  a  part  of  Cisalpine  Gaul,  is  the  precise 
country  of  the  Waldenses.  Here  Leo,  or 
Vigilantius,  retired  for  safety  from  persecu- 
tion, among  a  people  already  established  there 
of  his  own  way  of  thinking,  who  received  him 
as  a  brother,  and  who  thenceforth  for  several 
centuries  were  sometimes  called  by  his  name. 
Here,  shut  up  in  the  Alpine  valleys,  they 
handed  down  through  the  generations  the  doc- 
trines and  practices  of  the  primitive  Church, 
while  the  inhabitants  of  the  plains  of  Italy 
were  daily  sinking  more  and  more  into  the 
apostasy  foretold  by  the  Apostles. 

The  hero  of  the  glorious  return  from  exile 
in  1689,  Colonel  Henri  Arnaud,  who  led  nine 
hundred  Waldenses  over  the  Alps  to  their 
homes,  writes :  "  The  Vaudois  are  descendants 


io  The  Italian  Waldenses 

of  those  refugees  from  southern  Italy,  who, 
after  St.  Paul  had  there  preached  the  gospel, 
were  persecuted,  and  abandoned  their  beauti- 
ful country ;  fleeing  like  the  woman  mentioned 
in  the  Apocalypse,  to  these  wild  mountains, 
where  they  have  to  this  day  handed  down  the 
gospel  from  father  to  son  in  the  same  purity 
and  simplicity  as  it  was  preached  by  St.  Paul." 

The  confession  which  they  presented,  a.d. 
1544,  to  the  French  king,  Francis  I.,  said: 
"This  is  that  confession  which  we  have  re- 
ceived from  our  ancestors,  even  from  hand  to 
hand,  according  as  their  predecessors  in  all 
times  and  in  every  age  have  taught  and 
delivered." 

And  in  the  year  1559,  in  their  supplica- 
tion to  Emanuel  Philibert  of  Savoy,  they  say: 
"  Let  your  highness  consider  that  this  religion 
in  which  we  live  is  not  merely  our  religion  of 
the  present  day,  but  it  is  the  religion  of  our 
fathers  and  of  our  grandfathers,  yea,  of  our 
forefathers  and  of  our  predecessors  still  more 
remote.  It  is  the  religion  of  the  saints  and 
of  the  martyrs,  of  the  confessors  and  of  the 
Apostles."  When  addressing  the  German 
Reformers  of  the  sixteenth  century,  they  say : 
"  Our  ancestors  have  often  recounted  to  us 
that  we   have  existed  from  the  time  of  the 


The  Israel  of  the  Alps  1 1 

Apostles."  They  agreed  with  the  Reformers 
in  all  points  of  doctrine,  but  refused  to  be 
called  a  Reformed  Church,  as  they  said  they 
had  never  swerved  from  the  true  Christian 
faith,  and  needed  no  reformation. 


CHAPTER   II 

THE    DIOCESE     OF    BISHOP    CLAUDIO    OF    TURIN 
IN    THE    NINTH    CENTURY 

The  Waldenses  are  known  to  have  existed 
in  the  ninth  century  in  the  valleys  of  the 
Cottian  Alps.  The  evidence  of  this  must 
have  been  clear  to  their  enemy,  Rorenco, 
prior  of  St.  Rock,  at  Turin,  who  in  1630 
s  studied  the  history  of  the  "Heresies  of  the 
'  Valleys."  He  owns  that  "the  Waldenses 
were  so  ancient  as  to  afford  no  certainty  in 
regard  to  the  time  of  their  origin,  but  that 

I  in  the  ninth  century  they  were  rather  to  be 
deemed  a  race  of  fomenters  and  encouragers 
of  opinions  which  had  preceded  them." 

Dungal,  an  ecclesiastic,  who  was  the  bitter 
enemy  of  Claude,  Bishop  of  Turin  in  the  year 
820,  said  that  the  people  of  Claude's  diocese 
were  divided  into  two  parts  "concerning  the 
images  and  the  holy  pictures  of  the  Lord's 
passion;  the  Catholics  saying  that  that  picture 
is  good  and  useful,  and  almost  as  profitable  as 
Holy  Scripture  itself,  and  the  heretics,  on  the 


The   Diocese  of  Bishop  Claudio      13 

contrary,   saying  that   it   is  a  seduction   into 
error,  and  no  other  than  idolatry." 

Dungal  makes  constant  reference  to  Vigilan- 
tius,  and  charges  Claude  and  his  Vallenses 
with  teaching  the  same  doctrines  as  the 
Leonist.  Vigilantius,  he  said,  was  the  neigh- 
bor and  spiritual  ancestor  of  Claude, — both 
being  natives  of  Spain,  —  and  the  author  of 
"his  madness." 

But  this  was  a  holy  madness,  which  they 
both  learned  from  Scripture  and  from  the 
primitive  Church.  The  writings  of  Dungal 
prove  that  after  a  lapse  of  four  centuries  the 
memory  and  influence  of  Vigilantius  remained 
among  the  men  of  the  valleys,  and  that, 
although  the  faithful  preaching  of  Claude 
encouraged  and  strengthened  their  faith,  they 
did  not  owe  to  him  its  origin. 

Claude  was  the  court  chaplain  of  Louis  the 
Meek,  the  son  of  Charlemagne.  He  was 
appointed  by  that  Emperor,  Bishop  of  Turin, 
which  city  he  found  "  full  of  images."  "  When, 
sorely  against  my  will,"  he  says,  "I  under- 
took, at  the  command  of  Louis  the  Pious, 
the  burden  of  a  Bishoprick,  I  found  all  the 
churches  of  Turin  stuffed  full  of  vile  and 
accursed  images. "  He  alone  began  to  destroy 
what  all  were  "sottishly  worshipping,"  and 


14  The  Italian  Waldenses 

had  the  Lord  not  helped  him  they  would 
have  swallowed  him  up  quick.  He  became  a 
reproach  to  some  of  his  neighbors,  but  God, 
the  Father  of  Mercies,  comforted  him  in 
all  his  afflictions,  so  that  he  might  comfort 
others  who  "were  weighed  down  with  sorrow. " 
These  "others"  were  the  partakers  of  his 
affliction,  kindred  souls,  objects  like  himself 
of  scorn  and  hate;  the  successors  of  those 
whom  Jerome  vituperated,  inhabiting  the 
mountain  valleys  in  the  diocese  of  Turin. 

Turin  was  "wholly  given  to  idolatry,"  but 
the  Valdenses  held  firmly  with  their  Bishop 
the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel.  They,  with  him, 
rejected  image  worship,  and  saint  worship, 
and  bone  and  ash  worship,  and  cross  worship, 
and  pilgrimages  to  Rome,  and  papal  suprem- 
acy. "All  these  things,"  said  Claude,  "are 
mighty  ridiculous."  He  continued  to  com- 
bat error  and  keep  the  Church  committed 
to  him  free  from  idolatrous  rites  and  anti- 
Christian  dogmas,  teaching  no  new  doctrine, 
but  keeping  to  the  pure  truth,  and  opposing 
to  the  uttermost  all  superstitions.  "  I  repress 
sects,"  he  said,  —  his  definition  of  a  sect  being 
any  departure  from  the  truth  of  Scripture. 
His  sermons  are  models  of  simplicity  and 
truth.     "Why   do    you   prostrate    yourselves 


The  Diocese  of  Bishop  Claudio      15 

before  images?  Bow  not  down  to  them,  for 
God  made  you  erect,  with  the  face  towards 
heaven  and  towards  Him.  Look  up  there! 
Seek  God  above  and  lift  up  your  heart  to 
Him." 

Claude  wrote  commentaries  on  the  Epistles, 
on  Genesis,  Leviticus  and  Matthew.  Some 
of  the  manuscripts  still  exist;  one  in  the 
Abbey  of  Fleury,  near  Orleans;  one  in  the 
library  of  St.  Remi  at  Rheims,  and  one  in 
England.  The  only  one  ever  printed  was  the 
Commentary  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians, 
nearly  all  the  copies  of  which  were  destroyed 
by  his  enemies.  But  fragments  of  his  works 
have  been  preserved  in  the  manuscripts  of  his 
opponent  and  former  friend,  Jonas  of  Orleans, 
who  thus  unconsciously  rendered  him  a  service. 

Jonas,  while  himself  believing  in  the  adora- 
tion of  the  cross,  quotes  these  words  of  Claude 
against  it,  —  "  Nothing  pleases  them  in  our 
Lord  but  what  delighted  even  the  impious,  the 
opprobrium  of  His  passion,  and  the  ignominy 
of  His  death.  Why  not,  then,  adore  the  cradle, 
the  manger,  the  ship,  the  crown  of  thorns,  the 
spike,  the  lance  ?  God  commands  one  thing, 
those  men  another.  God  commands  to  bear 
the  cross,  not  to  adore  it.  To  serve  God  in 
this  manner  is  to  forsake  Him." 


1 6  The  Italian  Waldenses 

The  opposition  of  Claude  and  a  part  of  his 
diocese  to  the  worship  of  images  was  sus- 
tained, in  the  year  794,  by  the  Council  of 
Frankfort,  when  Charlemagne  was  present, 
and  in  826  by  the  Council  of  Paris.  But  his 
enemies  in  Turin  persecuted  and  reviled  him. 
Dungal  calls  him  "a  mad  blasphemer"  and 
"a  hissing  serpent,"  for  his  "error"  in  oppos- 
ing all  kinds  of  image-worship.  And  Claude 
used  no  less  vigorous  language,  for,  being 
called  to  appear  before  a  synod  of  bishops  to 
answer  for  his  conduct  in  banishing  images 
from  the  churches,  he  refused  on  the  ground 
that  they  were  congregatio  asinorum. 

The  bishop  who  girded  the  sword  over  his 
white  surplice  to  fight  the  Saracen  in  that 
period  of  Moslem  invasion  might  be  expected 
to  give  such  a  sturdy  answer  as  this. 

Claude  sealed  his  faith  by  martyrdom  in 
the  year  839,  after  having  for  many  years 
courageously  battled  with  his  enemies.  From 
that  date  the  Valdenses  were  without  a  bishop, 
and  confined  as  a  race  to  the  narrow  limits  of 
the  valleys.  The  church  of  Jesus  Christ  and 
the  Apostles  shrank  away  from  the  errors  of  the 
Roman  Church,  and  retired  into  the  "wil- 
derness," where  it  remained  imprisoned  for 
centuries.     God  sealed  it  up  there  for  the  day 


The  Diocese  of  Bishop  Claudio      17 

of  tribulation,  when  He  tried  it  like  as  gold 
is  tried  in  the  refiner's  fire.  In  all  the  plains 
of  Lombardy  the  voice  of  truth  was  silenced. 
There,  from  the  fourth  to  the  ninth  century, 
many  had  professed  the  early  Christian  faith 
in  its  purity.  The  Waldensian  Church  is  be- 
lieved to  have  extended  its  influence  from 
Turin  to  Milan,  as  in  all  its  existence  it  has 
been  possessed  by  the  missionary  spirit. 

Ambrose,  Bishop  of  Milan,  who  died  in 
the  year  397,  was  called  "the  Rock  of  the 
Church,"  on  account  of  his  reverence  for  the 
Scriptures  and  opposition  to  all  idolatrous 
practices.  Another  bishop  of  Milan,  in  the 
ninth  century,  "  rejoiced  in  the  goodness  of 
God,  which  had  raised  up  Claude,  a  true 
Christian  champion." 

The  ancient  emblem  of  the  Waldensian 
church  is  a  candlestick  with  the  motto,  — 
Lux  lucet  in  tenebris.  A  candlestick  in  the 
oriental  imagery  of  the  Bible  is  a  Church,  and 
this  Church  had  power  from  God  to  prophesy 
in  sackcloth  and  ashes  twelve  hundred  and 
sixty  days  or  symbolic  years.  "  Lo,  I  am  with 
you  always,"  Christ  said  to  His  Church  before 
leaving  it,  promising  to  keep  it  in  life  and 
in  purity  until  his  return.  No  other  Church 
calling   itself   Christian   can   claim   to    have 


1 8  The  Italian  Waldenses 

had  through  all  these  centuries  the  spiritual 
presence  of  our  Lord.  Like  a  good  olive  tree 
it  has  borne  abundant  fruit  of  martyrs;  like 
a  faithful  prophet  it  has  testified  against  the 
idolatry  and  corruption  of  the  Roman  Church ; 
like  a  light  shining  in  a  dark  place,  it  has 
spread  the  gospel  abroad. 

But  two  witnesses  were  to  prophesy  so  long 
in  sorrow;  two  olive  trees  and  two  candle- 
sticks were  to  stand  before  God  on  the  earth, 
and  were  not  these  the  Waldenses  and  the 
Albigenses?  The  true  title  of  the  Church 
situated  in  the  valleys  of  Piedmont  is  the 
"  Church  of  the  united  Vallenses  and  Albi- 
genses. "  Persecuted  for  their  doctrines,  sim- 
ilar to  those  of  the  Waldenses,  the  Albigenses 
of  France  fled  at  different  times,  from  1165  to 
1405  a.d.,  to  the  Alps  for  refuge.  Welcomed 
by  their  friends,  the  Waldenses,  who  had  been 
in  those  mountains  from  "time  immemorial," 
they  lived  together  for  several  centuries  in 
amity,  but  keeping  their  separate  names  and 
organizations.  Then,  tried  by  a  series  of  hor- 
rible persecutions,  the  two  suffering  churches 
united  like  two  drops  of  rain,  and  were  hence- 
forth known  under  one  name.  From  this 
time  the  name  of  the  Albigenses  is  lost,  but 
the  memory  of  their  sufferings  in  the  perse- 


The  Diocese  of  Bishop  Claudio     19 

cutions  of  the  thirteenth  century,  made  by 
Pope  Innocent  III.,  survived  in  the  hearts  of 
their  descendants.  War  was  made,  and  reg- 
ular armies  were  enrolled  against  them,  until, 
slaughtered  and  routed,  despoiled  of  property 
and  dignities,  they  fled  in  every  direction. 
The  poor  remnant  which  escaped  from  the 
racks  and  fires  of  the  Inquisitors  and  Crusaders 
to  the  Alps  preserved  there,  at  least,  its  doc- 
trines and  its  existence.  The  victims  of  these 
persecutions  were  innumerable,  as,  according 
to  the  Inquisitors,  almost  the  whole  popula- 
tion of  that  part  of  France  was  "  infected  with 
heresy."  The  "blessed  Dominic,"  founder  of 
the  order  of  preachers  which  exists  to  this 
day,  that  "glorious  servant  of  God,"  who,  to- 
gether with  Simon  de  Montfort,  directed  this 
crusade,  was  canonized  for  his  services,  and 
admitted  to  the  order  of  celestial  nobility 
by  Pope  Gregory  IX.  Miraculous  fragrance 
issued  from  the  open  sepulchre  of  this  Beatus 
Domenicus,  and  he  was  seen  by  a  prior  trans- 
lated to  heaven,  which  opened  to  receive 
him. 


CHAPTER   III 

WHO    WERE   THE   ALBIGENSES  ? 

Who  were  these  Albigenses,  so  numerous 
in  Provence,  Aquitaine,  Languedoc,  Gascony, 
and  Dauphiny,  a  century  before  these  terrible 
crusades  and  also  before  the  conversion  of 
Peter  Waldo  of  Lyons?  They  called  them- 
selves Good  Men  or  Apostolicals,  and  were 
called  by  their  enemies  Paulicians,  Cathari, 
Petrobrusians,  Henricians,  Manicheans,  Bul- 
garians, Paterines,  Publicans,  and  in  1176 
Albigenses,  from  the  town  of  Albi,  where 
they  held  a  synod.  They  first  were  noticed 
in  the  south  of  France  about  the  commence- 
ment of  the  eleventh  century ;  but  long  before 
that  a  purer  system  of  religion  than  that  of 
Rome  prevailed  among  the  people  there. 

"This  whole  district  of  Toulouse,"  says  a 
monk  who  wrote  the  history  of  this  heretical 
region,  "has  ever  been  notorious  for  the  de- 
testable  prevalence  of  this  heretical  pravity. 
Generation  after  generation,  from   father   to 


Who  were  the  Albigenses  ?         21 

son,  the  venom  of  superstitious  infidelity- 
has  been  successively  diffused.  O  Tou- 
louse !  mother  of  heretics !  O  tabernacle  of 
robbers ! " 

Still  the  opposition  to  Rome  took  no  com- 
pact form,  and  showed  itself  chiefly  in  the 
preaching  of  eminent  individuals  against  the 
worship  of  saints  and  images  and  relics,  until, 
at  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century, 
appeared  among  this  people,  already  prepared 
to  resist  papal  authority,  a  well-disciplined 
handful  of  strangers  from  the  East.  These 
Paulicians  or  Cathari  were  only  four  thou- 
sand, but  they  formed  a  rallying  point  to  resist 
the  tyranny  of  Rome,  and  the  number  of  their 
local  proselytes,  called  Believers,  was  soon 
innumerable. 

The  writings  of  the  Albigenses  have  all 
been  destroyed  by  the  Inquisitor,  but  their 
confessions  of  faith,  mixed  with  many  falsities, 
are  preserved  in  the  records  of  their  enemies. 
They  were  accused  of  Manicheism  or  worship- 
ping two  gods,  one  good  and  one  evil;  of 
adoring  Lucifer  in  the  form  of  a  black  cat ;  of 
sorcery  and  turbulence;  of  propagating  their 
opinions  by  fire  and  sword;  of  abhorring  ani- 
mal food  because  it  was  produced  by  the  evil 
one ;  of  denying  that  Christ  had  a  substantial 


22  The  Italian  Waldenses 

body,  and  thus  doing  away  with  the  benefits 
of  his  death.  All  these  and  many  other  hor- 
rible accusations  they  denied,  and  suffered 
persecution  and  martyrdom  rather  than  admit 
that  they  were  true.  That  they  held  a  Scrip- 
tural faith  similar  to  that  of  the  Waldenses 
and  of  the  Protestant  churches  to-day  is  clear. 
In  the  year  1017,  at  Orleans,  three  priests, 
converts  of  the  Paulicians,  were  examined  for 
eight  hours,  Queen  Constance  keeping  guard 
at  the  door  of  the  cathedral,  and  afterwards 
with  a  £tick  putting  out  the  eye  of  one  of 
them, —  Stephen,  who  had  been  her  confessor, 
and  who  probably  had  reproved  her  sins.  Bu* 
"  harder  than  any  iron, "  they  refused  to  repent, 
were  degraded  from  holy  orders,  and  with 
other  converts,  fourteen  in  all,  were  led  with- 
out the  walls  of  the  city,  where  a  great  fire 
was  kindled,  and  were  burned.  These  mar- 
tyrs were  said  to  be  Manicheans,  who  main- 
tained the  existence  of  two  gods :  an  evil  god, 
the  creator  of  the  material  world,  and  a  good 
god,  the  creator  of  the  spiritual  world.  But 
they  themselves  said  that  they  believed  in 
one  God,  whose  law  was  written  in  their  hearts 
by  the  Holy  Ghost :  "  We  can  see  our  King 
reigning  in  heaven.  By  His  own  almighty 
hand  He  will  raise  us  up  to  an  immortal  tri- 


Who  were  the  Albigenses  ?  23 

umph,  and  will  speedily  bestow  upon  us  joy 
celestial." 

The  persistent  charge  of  Manicheism,  a 
pagan  religion  of  the  East,  was  made  against 
the  Albigenses  because  their  theological  ances- 
tors, the  Paulicians  or  Cathari,  were  them- 
selves converts  from  Manicheism  in  Armenia. 
About  the  middle  of  the  seventh  century,  Con- 
stantine,  a  native  of  Armenia,  from  reading 
the  four  gospels  and  the  fourteen  epistles  of 
St.  Paul,  abandoned  the  errors  of  Manicheism, 
renounced  Manes,  accepted  the  doctrine  of 
the  Trinity  and  of  Christ's  divinity  and  in- 
carnation, and  led  a  life  of  exemplary  godli- 
ness. He  assumed  the  name  of  Sylvanus  and 
founded  a  new  Church,  the  members  of  which, 
from  admiration  of  St.  Paul,  called  them- 
selves Paulicians.  They  protested  against  the 
tyranny  of  Rome,  accepted  the  Bible  as  the 
only  rule  of  faith,  and  purified  their  creed 
from  all  errors  of  Gnostic  theology. 

The  emperors  of  the  Eastern  empire,  who 
were  already  slaughtering  Manicheans,  ex- 
tended their  persecutions  to  these  evangelical 
Christians.  Constantine  Sylvanus  was  ordered 
to  be  stoned  by  his  own  disciples,  all  of  whom 
but  one  refused  to  stone  him.  Simeon,  the 
imperial  officer  who  directed  the  persecution, 


24  The  Italian  Waldenses 

was  himself  converted,  and  after  struggling 
with  his  conscience  three  years  at  the  Court 
of  Constantinople,  returned,  became  the  suc- 
cessor of  Sylvanus,  and  was  burned,  together 
with  hundreds  of  the  Paulicians,  on  one  huge 
funeral  pile.  The  few  Paulicians  who  were 
left  continued  to  proselytize,  and  the  Church 
increased.  But,  worn  with  persecution,  they 
emigrated  in  the  year  755  to  the  West,  pass- 
ing over  Asia  into  Thrace,  then  into  Bulgaria, 
then  into  Italy,  and  at  last  into  France,  where 
they  arrived  at  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh 
century.  This  persecuted  church  of  the  Paul- 
icians, which  was  even  more  cruelly  perse- 
cuted when  it  developed  in  France  into  the 
church  of  the  Albigenses,  is  the  other  sym- 
bolic candlestick.  It  is  the  Eastern  church, 
while  the  Waldensian  is  the  Western.  Now, 
united  after  unimaginable  sorrows,  they  preach 
the  gospel  in  Italy,  and  are  a  light  shining  in 
darkness.     Ltix  lucet  in  tenebris. 


CHAPTER   IV 

ANTIQUITY    OF   THE   WALDENSES    BEFORE 
PETER   WALDO 

All  Roman  Catholic  and  some  Protestant 
historians  call  Peter  Waldo  of  Lyons  the 
founder  of  the  ancient  Church  of  the  Cottian 
Alps.  This  theory  sweeps  away  at  a  breath 
not  only  the  Apostolic  but  the  Italian  origin 
of  the  Waldensian  Church,  making  it  no  older 
than  the  year  1160,  when  Peter  Waldo  began 
his  ministry  in  France.  The  firm  conviction 
of  this  people,  that  they  have  existed  in  the 
Alpine  valleys  "from  time  immemorial,"  is 
made  to  yield  to  the  mere  fact  that  Peter,  the 
rich  merchant  of  Lyons,  bore  the  name  of 
Waldo,  and  left  it  to  his  followers  in  the 
north  of  France,  in  Germany,  and  in  Bohemia. 
In  this  latter  country  he  died  in  1197,  after 
evangelizing  with  zeal  thirty-seven  years. 

The  Waldenses,  except  a  few  recently, 
have  never,  during  these  seven  centuries, 
recognized  him  as  their  head.     Their  oldest 


26  The  Italian  Waldenses 

writings,  their  confessions  of  faith,  their  cate- 
chisms and  poems,  are  not  his,  and  make  no 
mention  of  him.  He  could  not  have  founded 
a  Church  which  by  the  very  confessions  of  its 
enemies  already  existed,  and  which  is  well 
known  to  have  professed  in  the  ninth  century 
evangelical  doctrines  opposed  to  those  of  the 
Roman  Church.  He  was  called  Valdo  or 
Valdis,  Valdensius,  Valdensis,  or  Valdius,  the 
name  appearing  in  all  these  slightly  varied 
forms.  He  received  this  name  from  the  dis- 
trict where  he  was  born,  in  Dauphiny  in  France, 
the  border  country,  which  was  also  named 
Valdis  or  Vaudra,  or  Valden,  from  its  prox- 
imity to  the  Waldensian  valleys  of  Italy. 
His  family  belonged  there,  and  he  himself 
lived  there  in  his  youth  before  becoming  a 
merchant  at  Lyons.  The  Protestant  inhab- 
itants of  Dauphiny  were  utterly  exterminated 
in  later  centuries  by  persecution,  their  faith 
being  the  same  as  that  of  the  Waldenses  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Alps. 

Nothing  but  the  bias  of  early  education 
would  explain  the  conduct  of  Peter  Waldo  at 
a  great  crisis  in  his  life.  The  sudden  death 
of  one  of  his  companions  at  a  banquet  made 
the  world  and  worldly  things  odious  to  him. 
The  good  seed  sown   in   his  childhood  and 


Antiquity  of  the  Waldenses         27 

afterwards  choked  in  a  thorny  soil  sprang  up 
to  sudden  life,  and  caused  him  to  devote  the 
remainder  of  his  days  to  the  service  of  Heaven 
and  his  fellowmen.  Had  his  early  training 
been  in  the  papal  Church,  with  his  riches  he 
would  have  founded  an  abbey  and  entered  it 
as  a  monk ;  but  he  began,  instead,  to  denounce 
the  Roman  Church  as  the  Babylon  of  the 
Apocalypse,  and  caused  the  Scriptures  to  be 
translated  into  the  vulgar  tongue.  He  de- 
voted himself  altogether  to  missionary  labors, 
turned  his  house  into  a  hospital,  and  distrib- 
uted his  goods  to  the  poor,  made  proselytes 
in  Lyons,  and  wandered  over  many  countries 
teaching  a  pure  Christian  doctrine.  These 
were  evidently  his  already  adopted  senti- 
ments, learned  in  youth,  and  neglected  during 
his  prosperous  worldly  life  as  a  merchant. 

The  sudden  religious  impression  received 
by  Luther  under  similar  circumstances  took  a 
different  form.  Luther  was  trained  a  papist 
from  childhood,  and  when,  at  twenty  years  of 
age,  having  just  finished  the  course  of  philos- 
ophy at  Erfurt,  his  companion  was  struck  down 
at  his  side  by  lightning  during  a  thunder 
storm,  he  abandoned  the  world  by  entering  a 
monastery,  —  not  by  preaching  the  gospel,  for 
he  did  not  know  it,  —  not  by  denouncing  the 


28  The  Italian  Waldenses 

Roman  Church,  for  he  was  devoted  to  it  until 
years  after,  when,  through  terrible  mental 
struggles,  he  was  freed  from  its  power. 
Waldo  knew  at  once,  when  the  spirit  touched 
his  heart,  what  Luther  learned  only  by  the 
might  of  his  intellect,  and  the  throes  of  his 
strong  heart.  Waldo,  Le  Vaudois,  as  the 
French  called  him,  was  born  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  Scriptures.  Imitating  the  early 
Christians,  he  sold  all  that  he  had  and  gave 
to  the  poor.  "No  one,"  he  said,  "can  serve 
both  God  and  mammon."  Beginning  at  Pen- 
tecost, for  three  days  every  week  he  distributed 
food  to  all  who  came  for  it.  Crowds  gathered 
around  him,  and  his  friends  exclaimed  that 
he  was  mad.  But,  mounting  on  a  convenient 
place,  he  said:  "Citizens  and  friends,  I  am 
not  out  of  my  mind,  as  you  believe,  but  I  am 
avenging  myself  on  my  enemy,  — this  money, 
which  had  reduced  me  to  slavery,  and  made 
me  more  obedient  to  it  than  to  God;  if  any 
one  after  this  shall  see  me  with  money,  then 
let  him  say  that  I  am  mad ;  and  may  you  also 
learn  to  place  your  hope  in  God,  and  not  in 
riches."  But  Peter  did  not  change  his  con- 
dition without  pain.  The  separation  from  his 
wife  and  two  daughters,  who  did  not  accept 
his  religious  ideas,  wrung  his  heart,  and  he 


Antiquity  of  the  Waldenses         29 

was  distressed  by  the  agony  of  his  poor  wife, 
who,  having  heard  that  he  had  asked  and 
obtained  alms  from  an  old  friend,  rushed  half 
wild  to  the  Archbishop,  who  cited  them  both 
to  appear  before  him.  She  ran  to  her  hus- 
band when  he  came,  and  between  anger  and 
tears  cried :  "  Oh,  were  it  not  better  that  I 
should  do  penance  for  my  sins  by  giving  alms 
to  thee  rather  than  to  others  ?  "  From  that 
day  Peter  took  food  only  from  his  wife.  The 
Archbishop  of  Lyons  soon  began  to  persecute 
Peter  and  the  Poor  Men,  his  disciples,  who 
like  him  had  abandoned  their  worldly  goods. 
Waldo  fled  into  Picardy,  where,  three  cen- 
turies later,  John  Calvin  was  born,  and  then 
crossed  the  Alps  with  some  of  his  followers 
to  find  a  welcome  in  Piedmont.  Once  more 
he  returned  to  escort  other  disciples  to  the 
same  place  of  shelter.  The  historian  Botta 
acknowledges  that  Peter  found  the  Waldenses 
there.  "The  Waldenses," he  says,  "are  called 
thus  either  because  they  inhabit  the  valleys, 
or  because  Waldo,  a  celebrated  heretic  of  the 
twelfth  century,  left  them  his  name  after 
having  accepted  their  opinions." 

Peter  de  Bruis  and  Henry,  the  Italian,  who, 
half  a  century  before  Waldo,  had  preached  in 
France,  where  one   died  in   prison   and  the 


30  The  Italian  Waldenses 

other  at  the  stake,  had  prepared  the  way  for 
his  mission.  The  earnest  preaching  of  the 
Scriptures,  the  fervent  love  and  faith  show- 
ing itself  in  works  of  charity  of  Waldo,  soon 
gained  him  eighty  thousand  adherents.  He 
sent  men  of  all  ranks,  barefooted  and  without 
money,  into  all  the  surrounding  country,  order- 
ing them  to  preach  in  the  public  squares,  and 
to  penetrate  into  the  houses  and  churches. 
They  afterwards  extended  their  missionary 
labors  into  many  other  countries  of  Europe. 
The  persecution  in  the  next  century  of  the 
Poor  Men  of  Lyons,  or  Waldenses,  and  of  the 
Albigenses,  who  held  the  same  doctrines, 
filled  all  the  prisons  in  France.  ■  The  Roman 
Catholic  bishops  of  Aix,  Aries,  and  Avignon 
said  that  between  a.d.  1206  and  a.d.  1228, 
"so  great  a  number  of  the  Waldenses  were 
apprehended  that  it  was  not  only  impossible 
to  nourish  them,  but  to  provide  lime  and  stone 
to  build  prisons  for  them."  In  the  year  1212 
two  religious  orders,  the  Minor  Friars  or 
Franciscans,  and  the  Preaching  Friars  or 
Dominicans  were  instituted  to  combat  two 
sects  which  "long  since  sprang  up  in  Italy," 
says  an  abbot  of  the  thirteenth  century. 
These  two  sects,  or  rather  two  branches  of 
the  same  sect,  were  the  "Humiliated"  and  the 


Antiquity  of  the  Waldenses        31 

"Perfect,"  or  the  Waldenses  and  the  Poor 
Men  of  Lyons.  Reinerius  the  Inquisitor 
calls  the  latter  "modern  heretics,"  to  distin- 
guish them  from  a  "  much  more  ancient  sect, 
the  Leonists  or  Waldenses  of  Piedmont," 
their  theological  ancestors. 


CHAPTER  V 


THE    "NOBLE    LESSON 


The  most  ancient  document  of  the  Wal- 
denses  is  "La  Nobla  Leyczon,"  a  poem  of 
four  hundred  and  seventy-nine  verses  written 
in  an  idiom  similar  to  that  of  the  primitive 
Romaunt  languages  in  Alexandrine  verse, 
without  rhyme.  "The  spirit  of  this  poem," 
says  a  Waldensian  historian,  "is  that  of  a 
simple  and  retired  age ;  of  a  people  constantly 
nourished  by  pure,  primitive  doctrine;  touch- 
ing in  its  simplicity,  and  beautiful  in  its  tol- 
erance." Its  subject  is,  according  to  verses 
437  and  438,  "The  three  laws  that  God  has 
given  to  the  world,  —  the  natural  law,  the  law 
of  Moses,  and  the  law  of  the  Gospel."  "O 
brethren,  hear  a  noble  lesson.  We  ought 
always  to  watch  and  pray,  for  we  see  that  the 
world  is  near  to  its  end.  We  ought  to  strive 
to  do  good  works  since  we  see  that  the  world 
approaches  its  end.  Well  have  a  thousand 
and  a  hundred  years  been  entirely  completed 


The  c<  Noble  Lesson  "  33 

since  it  was  written  that  we  are  in  the  last 
times."  This  remarkable  date,  contained  in 
the  sixth  verse  of  the  poem  and  written  thus 
in  the  original,  — 

"  Ben  ha  mil  e  cent  ancz  compli  entierament," 

fixes  the  date  of  its  composition  at  the  year 
1 100  if  counted  from  the  Christian  era,  or  at 
from  a.d.  1 149  to  1 1 80  if  counted  from  the 
prophecies  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  John.  "  Now 
we  are  in  the  last  time,"  says  the  poet,  mean- 
ing to  give  a  solemn  warning  to  prepare  for 
the  end  of  the  world.  It  was  the  general 
impression  of  all  Christendom  that  Satan, 
having  been  bound  through  the  millennium 
of  one  thousand  years,  was  loosed  in  the  year 
1000,  and  that  after  a  short  period  of  perse- 
cution of  the  saints  through  his  minister, 
Antichrist,  the  world  would  be  destroyed. 
The  Waldenses  believed  the  Papacy  to  be  the 
predicted  Antichrist,  and  the  Papists  saw  the 
loosing  of  Satan  in  the  great  increase  of  heresy 
during  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries. 
The  Waldenses  and  Albigenses  saw  a  per- 
secuting priesthood  whose  labors  began  at 
Orleans  almost  immediately  after  the  expir- 
ation of  the  thousand  years,  and  an  apostate 
Church,  —  the  mystic  Babylon,  —  seated  on 
3 


34  The  Italian  Waldenses 

the  seven  hills  of  Rome,  and  they  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  call  it  the  Man  of  Sin,  or  Antichrist. 
Doubt  has  been  thrown  on  the  antiquity  of 
the  Noble  Lesson,  some  historians  believing 
that  it  was  written  in  the  year  1400,  three 
centuries  later  than  the  time  indicated  by  its 
dialect  and  character. 

In  the  year  1658  Sir  Samuel  Morland,  then 
English  Ambassador  at  the  court  of  Piedmont, 
sent  four  Waldensian  manuscripts  to  the 
library  at  Cambridge.  One  of  these  was  a 
copy  of  the  Noble  Lesson,  and  in  it,  between 
the  words  mil  or  thousand  and  cent  or  one  hun- 
dred, appears  the  number  IV  in  Roman  char- 
acters, making  the  date  a.d.  1400.  This  copy 
is  of  the  fifteenth  century,  and  contains  besides 
this  error  many  others.  The  interpolation  of 
quatre  or  four  lengthens  the  verse,  a  mistake 
which  the  same  copyist  makes  in  verse  473, 
while  he  shortens  verse  30.  The  Noble 
Lesson  has  been  attributed  to  Peter  Waldo, 
or  to  some  of  his  disciples.  But,  if  this  were 
true,  why  did  they  not  carry  with  them  and 
leave  behind  them  similar  writings  in  the 
other  countries  where  they  went,  or  in  the 
south  of  France,  from  whence  they  came? 
Why  was  not  this  ancient  poem  written  in 
one  of  the  Romaunt  dialects  of  France  instead 


The  "Noble  Lesson" 


35 


of  in  an  idiom  similar  to  the  Italian,  and  pre- 
cisely that  spoken  by  the  Waldenses  ?  Mr. 
Raynouard,  a  student  of  those  languages,  says 
that,  judging  only  from  its  dialect,  the  Noble 
Lesson  must  be  the  production  of  the  eleventh 
or  twelfth  century.  The  date  noo,  he  says, 
merits  all  faith,  and  the  style  of  the  work 
and  form  of  the  verses  favor  its  authenticity. 
Although  the  poem  refers  to  Roman  Catholic 
intolerance,  it  says  nothing  of  the  Inquisition, 
and  there  is  a  youthful  courage  and  ardor  in 
attacking  abuses  which  yielded  afterwards  to 
the  accents  of  pain  anoT  grief.  The  horror 
which  the  Noble  Lesson  expresses  of  the 
doctrines  of  Mariolatry,  and  saint-worship,  of 
the  supremacy  of  the  Pope  and  the  idolatry  of 
the  mass,  at  a  period  when  all  the  rest  of  the 
world  blindly  obeyed  the  Papacy,  is  also  a 
proof  that  it  is  the  production  of  mountaineer 
Waldenses.  They  all,  without  distinction, 
young  men  and  girls  and  little  children,  as 
well  as  the  gray-bearded  barbes  or  minis- 
ters, made  it  a  duty  to  spread  the  knowledge 
of  the  gospel.  The  Vaudois  missionary  might 
assume  the  garb  and  carry  the  lute  of  the 
troubadour,  singing  portions  of  the  "  Nobla 
Leyczon  "  instead  of  the  Provencal  love  songs 
of  the  period.     "  They  have  invented  certain 


36  The  Italian  Waldenses 

verses,"  says  a  writer  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, "  in  which  they  teach  the  practice  of 
virtue  and  the  hatred  of  vice."  They  taught 
that  "God  is  the  only  object  of  worship;  that 
the  Bible  is  the  only  rule  of  faith,  and  Christ 
the  only  foundation  of  salvation."  They 
believed  in  one  God,  —  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Spirit;  that  Christ  is  Life,  Truth, 
Peace,  Righteousness,  Shepherd,  and  Advo- 
cate, Sacrifice,  and  Priest;  that  He  died  for 
the  salvation  of  all  believers  and  rose  again 
for  their  justification.  The  troubadours  or 
minstrels  went  from  castle  to  castle,  singing 
their  songs,  from  the  eleventh  to  the  thir- 
teenth centuries,  a  custom  which  is  mentioned 
in  another  Waldensian  poem,  called  "  La 
Barca,"  known  to  be  a  production  of  the 
thirteenth  century  and  of  later  date  than 
the  Noble  Lesson.  All  rhymists  agree  that 
poems  like  the  Noble  Lesson  in  accented  lines 
are  older  than  those  like  "La  Barca,"  written 
in  rhyme.  Another  proof  of  its  antiquity  is 
the  peculiar  use  of  the  word  baron,  which  only 
at  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century  became  a 
title  of  nobility.  Previous  to  that  time,  and 
especially  from  the  ninth  to  the  eleventh 
century,  it  meant  only  some  great  or  vener- 
able person.     In  the  old  Provencal  "  Song  of 


The  C£  Noble  Lesson  "  37 

Roland "  the  twelve  counsellors  of  Charle- 
magne are  called  "the  great  barons  with  white 
beards,"  and  in  the  Noble  Lesson  the  three 
Magi  at  the  cradle  of  the  Saviour  are  called 
"the  three  barons,"  and  Abraham  receives 
the  same  title.  Before  the  middle  of  the 
thirteenth  century  a  titled  person  would  have 
been  called  a  duke  or  marquis,  and  not  a 
baron.  Verse  331  of  the  poem  says,  "Then 
sprang  up  a  people  newly  converted.  Chris- 
tians they  were  named,  for  they  believed  in 
Christ.  But  we  find  here  what  the  Scripture 
says,  that  the  Jews  and  Saracens  persecuted 
them  grievously."  This  expression,  "Jews 
and  Saracens,"  applied  in  general  to  all  per- 
secutors, betrays  an  epoch  when  the  Saracens 
were  yet  objects  of  terror  and  the  agents  of 
violence  against  all  Christians.  They  were 
conquered  by  Charles  Martel  in  732,  but  they 
continued  to  ravage  France  and  parts  of  the 
French  Alps  near  the  Waldensian  valleys 
until  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century.  Godfrey 
of  Bouillon  took  Jerusalem  from  the  Saracens 
in  the  year  1099.  The  Saracen,  in  the  cur- 
rent phraseology  of  the  people  of  the  West, 
was  the  typical  enemy  and  persecutor  of 
Christians  of  their  time,  as  the  Jew  had  been 
of    Christ    himself.     Another    proof    of    the 


38  The  Italian  Waldenses 

antiquity  of  the  Noble  Lesson  is  the  omis- 
sion to  mention  the  number  of  nails  used  in 
crucifying  the  Saviour  in  the  verse:  "Four 
wounds  they  gave  him  besides  other  blows. 
After  that  they  gave  him  a  fifth  to  make  the 
completion,  for  one  of  the  knights  came  and 
opened  his  side,  and  forthwith  there  flowed 
out  blood  and  water  mingled  together."  One 
of  the  heresies  attributed  to  the  Albigenses 
and  Waldenses  was  their  opinion  that  three 
nails  only  were  used,  and  that  the  left  side  of 
our  Lord  was  pierced  by  the  spear.  Triclav- 
ianism  was  condemned  by  Pope  Innocent  III., 
who  decided  that  four  nails  were  used,  and 
that  the  Roman  soldier  pierced  the  right  side 
of  Christ. 

Saint  Francis  of  Assisi,  the  founder  of  one 
of  the  two  Orders  instituted  by  Innocent  III. 
against  the  Waldenses,  or  the  "Humiliated," 
and  the  Poor  Men  of  Lyons,  or  the  "  Perfect," 
was  miraculously  marked  by  the  five  wounds 
of  the  Saviour,  so  that  the  four  nails  were 
seen,  —  two  on  the  inside  of  the  hands,  and 
two  on  the  outside  of  the  feet,  and  the  wound 
on  the  right  side.  He  contrived  to  mark 
himself  thus  in  order  to  disprove  the  old 
triclavian  or  three-nail  heresy  of  those  whom 
he  was  appointed  to  oppose.   "The  heretics," 


The  "  Noble  Lesson  "  39 

says  a  writer  of  the  period,  "  were  confounded 
by  this  practical  argument  of  Francis." 

Peter  Waldo,  in  1160,  made  a  translation 
of  the  Scriptures  into  the  dialect  of  Southern 
France,  a  proof  that  he  was  acquainted  with 
another  version  of  the  Bible,  probably  that  of 
the  Italian  Waldenses.  The  Paulicians  or 
Albigenses  certainly  possessed  it,  as  they 
were  known  to  have  suffered  martyrdom  for 
its  doctrines  in  Armenia  before  emigrating  to 
Europe.  The  Noble  Lesson  says :  "  For  the 
Scripture  saith,  and  we  ought  to  believe  it, 
that  all  men  pass  two  ways,  the  good  to  glory, 
and  the  wicked  to  torment.  But  if  any  shall 
not  believe  this  let  him  study  the  Scriptures 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end."  A  reference 
is  made,  towards  the  end  of  the  Waldensian 
poem,  to  various  celestial  phenomena,  which 
occurred  during  the  eleventh  century,  and 
were  believed  to  be  signs  of  the  approaching 
end  of  the  world.  "  Many  signs  and  wonders 
shall  be  from  this  time  forward  to  the  day 
of  judgment.  May  it  please  the  Lord  who 
formed  the  world  that  we  may  be  of  the  num- 
ber of  his  elect  to  stand  in  his  courts.  Thanks 
unto  God.     Amen." 


CHAPTER  VI 

CALUMNIES   AND   OPPRESSIONS    OF    THE 
INQUISITORS 

The  Waldenses  for  many  centuries  were  a 
persecuted  and  suffering  race.  They  were 
accused  by  their  enemies  and  persecutors  of 
every  crime  and  base  practice;  of  worshipping 
Lucifer  in  the  form  of  a  black  cat ;  of  making 
a  cake  of  meal  with  the  blood  of  an  infant; 
of  deceiving  their  proselytes  by  diabolical 
means,  and  inducing  them  to  forsake  their 
holy  mother,  the  Church  and  the  priests, 
"through  whom  they  ought  to  come  to  sal- 
vation " ;  of  being  sorcerers  "who  dealt  in  the 
impious  vanity  of  magical  incantations." 

Through  all  the  middle  ages  the  Waldenses 
of  Piedmont  were  reported  to  be  a  race  of 
impious  magicians,  and  the  belief  in  their 
sorcery  was  often  of  use  to  them  in  battles 
with  their  enemies.  It  was  believed  that 
through  special  favor  of  the  devil  they  were 
proof  against  musketry,  and  that  their  barbes 


Oppressions  of  the  Inquisitors      41 

or  ministers  after  a  battle  gathered  up  the 
balls  in  their  skirts  by  handfuls  without  hav- 
ing received  any  harm.  The  children  of  these 
terrific  Vaudois  were  always  born,  it  was  said, 
with  hairy  throats,  with  four  rows  of  black 
teeth,  and  with  a  single  eye  in  the  middle  of 
their  foreheads.  One  of  the  Dukes  of  Savoy, 
their  prince,  who  visited  his  Waldensian  sub- 
jects after  a  persecution,  asked  to  see  these 
monstrous  children,  but  was  convinced  of  the 
calumny  when  rosy,  pearly-toothed,  well- 
formed,  two-eyed,  lovely  babies  and  children 
were  brought  to  him.  The  very  name  of 
Vaudois  or  Vaulderie  came  to  mean  witch- 
craft or  friendship  with  the  Evil  One.  "  When 
they  wish  to  go  to  the  said  Vaulderie  they 
anoint  themselves  with  an  ointment  which 
the  devil  has  given  them.  They  then  rub 
with  it  also  a  very  small  rod  of  wood,  and 
with  the  palms  of  their  hands  place  the 
rod  between  their  legs.  Thus  prepared  and 
equipped,  they  fly  away  wherever  they  please, 
and  the  devil  carries  them  to  the  place  where 
they  hold  their  assembly.  In  that  place  they 
find  tables  ready  set  out  with  wine  and  vict- 
uals, and  a  devil  in  the  shape  of  a  goat  with 
the  tail  of  an  ape  gives  them  a  meeting." 
Yet  the  Inquisitors  who  thus  excited  the 


42  The  Italian  Waldenses 

fancy  and  the  hatred  of  the  common  people 
against  the  Waldenses,  in  their  communica- 
tions regarding  them  to  each  other,  were  con- 
strained by  the  divine  power  of  truth  to  give 
them  another  character.  As  in  a  mirror,  the 
lovely  modesty  and  humility  of  the  Walden- 
sian  character  is  reflected  through  the  cloud  of 
calumny.  "  Heretics  are  the  worst  and  most 
profligate  of  mankind,"  says  the  Inquisitor. 
"  They  are  known  by  their  manners  and  their 
words.  They  are  composed  and  modest ;  they 
admit  no  pride  of  dress,  holding  a  just  mean 
between  the  expensive  and  the  squalid.  In 
order  that  they  may  the  better  avoid  lies,  and 
oaths,  and  trickery,  they  dislike  entering  into 
trade,  but  by  the  labor  of  their  hands  they 
live  like  ordinary  workmen.  Their  very 
teachers  are  mere  artisans.  Riches  they  seek 
not  to  multiply,  but  are  content  with  things 
necessary.  In  meat  and  drink  they  are  tem- 
perate. They  resort  neither  to  taverns,  nor 
to  dances,  nor  to  any  other  vanities.  From 
anger  they  carefully  restrain  themselves. 
They  are  always  engaged  either  in  working, 
or  in  learning,  or  in  teaching,  and  therefore 
they  spend  but  little  time  in  prayer." 

This  paradoxical  race,   so  wicked,   and  yet 
so  practised  in  all  the  Christian  graces,  made 


Oppressions  of  the   Inquisitors      43 

converts  among  the  noble  and  the  great.  A 
wandering  missionary,  with  a  pack,  like  any 
other  merchant,  would  knock  at  the  great 
doors  of  a  castle,  and  be  admitted  to  the 
presence  of  the  beautiful  castellana.  When 
he  had  shown  his  rings,  and  robes,  and  other 
wares,  he  would  say,  "  Lady,  I  have  jewels  far 
more  precious  than  these,  which  I  will  give 
you  if  you  will  secure  me  against  the  priests." 
The  promise  given,  he  said,  "  I  possess  a  bril- 
liant gem  from  God  himself,  for  through  it 
man  comes  to  the  knowledge  of  God;  and  I 
have  another  which  casts  out  so  ruddy  a  heat 
that  it  forthwith  kindles  the  love  of  God  in 
the  heart  of  the  owner."  The  "vagabond" 
then  rehearsed  parts  of  the  New  Testament, 
and  often  won  the  lovely  lady  of  the  castle 
to  the  "religion,"  as  it  was  called,  even  the 
enemies  calling  it  by  that  name,  as  if  there 
were  no  other  religion.  St.  Bernard,  the 
enemy  of  the  Albigenses,  described  them 
thus:  "If  you  ask  them  of  their  faith,  noth- 
ing can  be  more  Christian,  nothing  more 
irreprehensible  than  their  conversation,  and 
what  they  say  they  confirm  by  their  deeds. 
They  attack  no  one ;  they  circumvent  no  one ; 
they  defraud  no  one.  Their  faces  are  pale 
with  fasting;  they  eat  not  the  bread  of  idle- 


44  The  Italian  Waldenses 

ness."  Yet,  "mark  the  fox,"  says  Bernard,  as 
he  proceeds  to  enumerate  some  of  the  popu- 
lar calumnies,  forgetting  that  this  good  fruit 
could  scarcely  grow  upon  an  evil  tree.  "  They 
submitted  joyfully  and  triumphantly  to  mar- 
tyrdom, rather  than  apostatize  from  what  they 
held  to  be  the  true  faith  of  the  gospel. " 

But  this  contempt  of  death  and  suffering 
was,  in  heretics,  "  inspired  by  Satan,  and  the 
martyrdom  was  spurious."  If  by  torture  or 
fear  of  worldly  loss  they  were  tempted  to  re- 
tract and  abjure  their  faith,  as  soon  as  "ever 
they  became  masters  of  their  own  actions  they 
forthwith  returned  to  wallowing  in  the  filth 
of  their  pristine  error."  These  contradictory 
accounts  given  of  the  Vaudois  and  of  their 
brothers,  the  Albigenses,  by  their  enemies, 
are  noted  also  in  the  Nobla  Leyczon,  verses 
357  and  372.  "If  any  one  will  not  curse, 
nor  swear,  nor  lie,  nor  commit  injustice  or 
larceny,  nor  be  dissolute,  nor  avenge  himself 
on  his  enemies,  they  say  he  is  a  Vaudois,  and 
merits  to  be  punished."  "These  heretics," 
confessed  King  Louis  XII.,  in  speaking  of 
his  Vaudois  subjects  of  Val  Louise,  "are 
better  Christians  than  we."  The  Waldenses 
of  Piedmont  were  always  distinguished,  says 
Leger,   one   of   their   own  historians,   by   "a 


Oppressions  of  the  Inquisitors      45 

simple  and  sincere  conformity  to  the  sacred 
Word,  by  a  holy  life  and  conversation,  by 
persecution  and  the  cross."  Culture  of  the 
fields  and  care  of  the  flocks  have  always  been 
the  principal  occupations  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Cottian  Alps.  They  are  intelligent,  but 
the  centuries  of  oppression  which  had  weighed 
upon  them  until  a  recent  period  made  them 
apathetic  and  concentrated  in  themselves. 
Their  type  is  far  from  being  vulgar.  They 
are  tall,  or  at  least  of  more  than  medium 
height;  their  black  hair  is  fine  and  slightly 
curly;  their  forehead  is  high  and  broad;  the 
eyebrows  are  heavy;  the  nose  is  fine,  the  chin 
well-shaped.  They  are  sober,  patient,  labori- 
ous; slow  to  accept  innovations,  but  faithful 
to  their  promises.  "Those  who  know  the 
idiom  of  the  Waldenses  as  it  is  spoken  in 
these  mountains,"  says  Muston,  one  of  their 
historians,  "  can  read  the  old  poems  that  are 
attributed  to  the  race."  A  French  historian, 
M.  Henri  Martin,  says :  "  It  cannot  be  doubted 
that  there  has  been  in  the  high  Alps  of  Pied- 
mont and  Dauphiny  a  population  which  has 
preserved,  from  ancient  times,  traditions  and 
manners  very  different  from  those  which  have 
prevailed  in  the  Roman  Church."  These  may 
be  only  tendencies,  but  in  a  rural  and  retired 


46  The  Italian  Waldenses 

population  they  are  the  result  of  hereditary 
traditions  and  habits  handed  down  from  gen- 
eration to  generation.  It  might  be  supposed 
that  such  a  life  of  hardship  and  toil,  such  cen- 
turies of  sorrow  and  persecution  would  sink 
the  Waldensian  to  the  level  of  his  herd ;  but, 
on  the  contrary,  he  is  gentle  and  courteous  in 
manner.  On  the  highest  mountain,  or  in  the 
loneliest  vale,  the  traveller  among  them  is 
sure  of  safety  and  welcome.  He  speaks  with 
a  tone  of  melancholy,  as  if  the  sorrows  of  his 
ancestors  had  branded  themselves  on  his  soul. 
Until  the  year  1848,  when  Charles  Albert, 
King  of  Sardinia,  gave  a  charter  of  liberty  to 
them  and  to  Italy,  they  had  still  their  sor- 
rows and  privations.  They  were  forbidden  to 
occupy  or  to  purchase  land  beyond  certain 
boundaries,  and  a  minister  could  not  visit  a 
sick  person  beyond  those  limits  unless  accom- 
panied by  a  Romish  layman,  and  even  then 
could  not  stay  more  than  twenty-four  hours. 
All  correspondence  with  foreign  ministers  was 
prohibited,  and  heavy  duties  were  imposed  on 
all  books,  and  especially  on  Bibles  and  re- 
ligious works.  Their  physicians,  surgeons, 
apothecaries,  lawyers,  or  notaries  could  not 
exercise  their  professions  beyond  the  limits  of 
the  valleys.     They  were  forbidden  to  inclose 


Oppressions  of  the  Inquisitors      47 

their  burial-grounds  with  walls.  If  the  child 
of  a  Waldensian  was  stolen,  for  the  purpose  of 
proselytizing,  by  a  Papist,  the  Waldensian 
had  no  redress,  even  if  the  Papist  on  the 
street  called  him  a  heretic  and  a  dog.  They 
were  compelled  to  abstain  from  work  on 
Popish  festivals,  and  to  uncover  the  head  to 
any  idol  carried  along  the  streets.  This  was 
nearly  two  centuries  after  the  persecutions  of 
blood  in  Piedmont  had  ceased.  These  were 
the  tender  mercies  of  that  power  which  had 
persecuted  and  calumniated  their  forefathers. 
"It  was  a  wind  of  death  from  the  Vatican 
which  caused  so  many  heads  to  fall;  which 
destroyed  so  many  families;  which  desolated 
so  many  hearts.  Terrible  hill,"  says  Muston, 
"which  has  preserved  of  Olympus  only  the 
false  gods,  of  Sinai  only  the  thunders,  and 
of  Calvary  only  the  blood." 


CHAPTER   VII 

GEOGRAPHICAL   POSITION   AND    COLONIES 

Where  are  these  valleys  which  "the  Eternal 
God  destined  as  the  theatre  of  his  wonders 
and  the  asylum  of  his  ark?"  These  Alpine 
mountains  were  the  scenes  of  heroism  and 
suffering,  of  cruelty  and  outrage  that  made 
the  name  ring  through  the  world.  The  rocky 
but  beloved  land  of  the  heroic  men  of  the 
valleys  is  on  the  Italian  side  of  the  giant 
wall  that  separates  Italy  from  France.  It  lies 
about  thirty  miles  southwest  of  Turin,  across 
the  broad,  level  sea  of  verdure  called  the 
Plain  of  Piedmont,  and  is  a  part  of  the  chain 
of  mountains  that  rises  abruptly  from  the 
plain. 

From  Turin,  on  a  clear  day,  these  moun- 
tains seem  like  etherial  regions  let  down  to 
earth,  vaporous  against  the  blue  sky,  the 
white  of  the  snowy  glaciers  mingling  with 
the  fleecy  white  clouds.  The  Waldensian 
valleys  lie  between  Mount  Cenis  and  Mount 
Viso,  with  the  French  province  of  Dauphiny 


Geographical  Position  and  Colonies    49 

on  the  west,  and  the  Plain  of  Piedmont  on 
the  east.  Persecution  and  confiscation  have 
reduced  them  to  a  space  twenty-two  miles 
long  and  sixteen  wide,  an  area  of  not  over 
three  hundred  square  miles,  the  tour  of  which 
could  be  made  on  foot  in  twenty  hours.  Mount 
Viso,  12,000  feet  high,  with  its  snow-crested 
cone,  is  like  a  pyramid  rising  out  of  a  sea  of 
mountain  ridges.  It  is  "  the  Jungfrau  of  the 
South;  the  powerful  spirit  that  watches  over 
the  valleys,  for  in  the  shade  of  its  granite 
sides  the  torch  of  the  gospel  found  refuge  for 
its  light."  The  valleys  are  three:  the  valley 
of  Luserna  or  Val-Pellice,  including  those  of 
Angrogna  and  Rora;  the  valley  of  Perosa 
and  the  valley  of  San  Martino.  Luserna  is 
watered  by  the  river  Pellice,  and  San  Martino 
by  the  river  Germanasca,  —  torrents  rather 
than  rivers  and  not  navigable,  but  fretting  their 
way  through  narrow  denies  or  spreading  out 
where  the  green  valley  permits  it  to  a  wider 
stream.  Luserna  is  the  largest  and  most  de- 
lightful of  these  valleys,  and  its  long,  low 
hills,  covered  with  vines  and  mulberries, 
border  a  kind  of  gulf  of  the  green  Plain  of 
Piedmont,  which  enters  there.  From  this 
entrance  of  the  valleys  there  is  a  lovely  view 
of  the  plain  with  the  towns  scattered  over  it, 
4 


5<d  The  Italian  Waldenses 

and  of  the  rock  of  Cavour,  a  mountain  rising 
solitary  like  a  natural  fortress.  In  Luserna 
grow  all  kinds  of  grain,  grapes,  chestnuts, 
figs,  and  delicious  fruits.  It  is  a  soft,  Italian 
climate:  a  land  of  brilliant-hued  skies,  of 
bright  fire-flies,  of  trailing  vines  and  fragrant 
flowers.  But  the  aspect  of  the  country  changes 
farther  on  in  the  valleys,  and  gives  place  to 
the  wild  grandeur  of  the  mountains.  Perosa 
is  less  fertile  than  Luserna,  and  the  cold  winds 
of  winter,  the  snow  and  ice,  are  sooner  felt. 
The  rich  vegetation  and  depths  of  green, 
broken  by  sunlight,  give  place  to  forests  of 
chestnuts  and  walnuts  that  shade  the  ground 
below,  and  form  a  thick  canopy  overhead. 
San  Martino  is  entirely  shut  in  by  the  moun- 
tains, —  a  long  and  narrow  valley  separated 
from  Luserna  by  an  enormous  chain  of  moun- 
tains. The  summits  of  these  mountains  form 
a  plain,  very  uneven  and  completely  bare, 
where,  in  the  depressions  of  the  rocks,  accumu- 
late the  waters  of  the  rains  and  melted  snows 
in  innumerable  pools,  some  of  which  are  so 
large  as  to  merit  the  title  of  lakes,  and  to 
give  the  region  the  name  of  the  Plain  of  the 
Thirteen  Lakes.  At  the  extremities  of  this 
mountain  plain  are  two  peaks,  —  the  Chalance 
and  the  Cournaout,  8,229  and  8,604  feet  high. 


Geographical  Position  and  Colonies    51 

In  the  valley  of  San  Martino  the  eagle 
builds  her  nest  on  the  high  rocks,  and  the 
chamois  beguiles  the  hunter  to  the  chase. 
High  mountain  peaks,  crowned  with  eternal 
snows,  rise  on  every  side,  and  the  lower  slopes 
of  the  hills  are  dotted  with  pretty  towns  and 
farmhouses  surrounded  by  orchards  and  vine- 
yards. Here  grow  many  lovely  Alpine  flowers, 
one  of  which,  the  blue  Campanula  Elatinus, 
is  celebrated  for  its  delicate  beauty. 

The  river  of  San  Martino,  the  Germanasca, 
that  spreads  out  broad  and  calm  above,  is  nar- 
rowed at  its  outlet  to  a  few  yards  in  width, 
and  struggles  through  the  rocky  defile  with 
noise  and  foam.  This  is  a  peculiarity  of  these 
mountain  rivers:  the  Rospart,  that  issues  at 
Villar,  in  the  valley  of  Perosa,  is  so  covered 
with  verdure  that  it  can  be  seen  only  when 
near,  and  the  Subiasc,  a  tributary  of  Pellice, 
issues  at  Bobi  from  a  gorge  so  narrow  that 
it  is  only  visible  exactly  in  front.  Luserna 
has  ten  beautiful  towns,  and  La  Tour,  the 
capital,  is  so  named  from  the  tower  which 
was  anciently  the  castle  on  the  hill  behind 
the  town.  Every  name  brings  up  a  throng  of 
memories,  —  Angrogna,  Villar,  Bobi,  Rora, 
—  where  every  rock  has  been  wet  with  blood, 
and  every  meadow  has  seen  the  death  of  mar- 


52  The  Italian  Waldenses 

tyrs.  Perosa  has  six  towns  and  San  Martino 
eleven.  These  are  the  actual  Waldensian 
Valleys,  but  there  were  others  on  the  French 
side  of  the  Alps,  once  inhabited  by  the  Wal- 
densians,  from  which  they  were  banished. 
Val  Louise,  in  Dauphiny,  was  once  full  of 
"heretics,"  but  none  are  there  now,  and  the 
inhabitants  are  even  ignorant  of  the  bloody 
history  of  their  ancestors. 

In  Val  Clusone,  or  Val  de  Pragela,  which 
is  connected  with  San  Martino  by  a  narrow 
pass,  the  Col  du  Pis,  they  were  exterminated 
by  persecution,  exile,  and  confiscation  of  their 
goods.  Val  Cluson  or  Pragela  in  France 
joined  Val  Perosa  in  Piedmont,  and,  as  the 
inhabitants  were  all  brothers  of  one  faith,  one 
of  the  towns,  La  Chapelle,  was  half  in  France, 
and  half  in  Italy,  — the  church  on  one  side  of 
the  line,  and  the  house  of  the  pastor  on  the 
other.  The  Waldensians  have  disappeared 
also  from  the  valleys  of  Queyras,  Mathias, 
and  Meane,  where  they  once  existed.  These 
French  valleys,  which  were  already  peopled 
by  evangelical  Christians  became  the  refuge 
of  the  disciples  of  Waldo  in  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury. The  Italian  Waldenses,  in  the  year 
1495,  sent  a  colony  of  farmers  into  Provence, 
which  nourished  and  so  increased  in  number 


Geographical  Position  and  Colonies    53 

and  influence  that  the  attention  of  the  Inquis- 
itors was  attracted  to  it,  and  it  was  exter- 
minated by  fire  and  sword.  They  sent  a  colony 
in  the  fourteenth  century  to  Calabria  and  the 
Puglie  in  southern  Italy,  which  increased  in 
wealth  and  founded  several  towns.  These 
were  all  destroyed,  and  their  inhabitants  mur- 
dered, driven  away  or  forced  to  apostatize, 
while  their  pastor,  John  Louis  Pascal,  was 
burned  at  Rome.  They  had  a  colony  which 
was  exterminated  at  Saluzzo,  in  Piedmont; 
another  at  Cuneo,  and  another  at  Busca. 
"  The  Evangelicals,"  says  an  Inquisitor,  "were 
not  only  numerous  in  the  valleys,  where  they 
were  called  Mountaineers  or  Vallenses,  but, 
not  satisfied  with  being  hidden  in  the  caves 
of  the  mountains,  they  had  the  audacity  to 
sow  their  false  doctrines  in  the  plains  of 
Piedmont  and  of  Lombardy,  and  to  establish 
themselves  at  Bagnolo,  so  that  they  were 
called  Bagnolese. "  At  Mantua,  at  Brescia, 
at  Bergamo,  at  Vicenza,  at  Florence,  at 
Spoleto,  they  were  known  under  various 
names. 

A  manuscript,  believed  to  be  of  the  twelfth 
century,  says  that  their  missions  were  even 
further  extended.  "  Merchants  of  that  people 
in  the  Alps  who  learn  the  Bible  by  heart  and 


54  The  Italian  Waldenses 

combat  the  rites  of  the  Church,  which  they 
say  are  new,  reach  Switzerland,  Bavaria  and 
upper  Italy."  They  had  houses  in  Florence, 
Genoa,  and  Venice,  the  latter  city  alone  con- 
taining six  thousand  Waldenses.  Long  before 
the  Reformation  they  existed  in  Italy,  France, 
and  Germany.  Their  open  friendship  with 
the  German  Reformers  and  the  renewed  zeal 
of  their  own  Christian  life  kindled  such  fires 
of  persecution  that  their  numbers  diminished. 
In  the  year  1622  the  College  of  the  Propaganda 
Fede  was  established  in  Rome  to  persecute 
them.  In  1686  the  entire  population  of  the 
Piedmontese  Waldensian  valleys  was  put  to 
death  or  sent  into  exile,  and  Italy  at  last  was 
freed  from  the  "heretic."  But  in  three  years 
and  a  half  they  returned.  Nine  hundred  war- 
riors, an  heroic  band,  crossed  Lake  Leman  at 
night ;  in  ten  days  climbed  the  dreadful  moun- 
tains of  Savoy,  and  took  possession  of  their 
homes  in  San  Martino,  Perosa,  and  Luserna. 
Since  then  they  have  suffered  no  bloody  per- 
secution, and  now  all  Italy  is  theirs  to  evan- 
gelize according  to  their  means  and  ability. 
But  alas  !  it  is  still  —  Lux  htcet  in  tencbris  ! 


CHAPTER   VIII 

THE    MINISTERS,     OR    "  BARBES  " 

The  pastors  of  the  Waldenses  were  by  them 
familiarly  called  "barbes,"  a  Piedmontese 
word,  meaning  "uncle,"  used  in  perilous  times 
in  order  to  conceal  their  office.  The  Papists 
called  all  who  recognized  the  barbes  for  pas- 
tors, barbets.  The  barbes  were  acknowledged, 
even  by  some  of  their  adversaries,  to  be  lovers 
of  virtue  and  enemies  of  vice.  The  papal 
clergy  in  the  passion  of  persecution  often 
accused  them  of  mysterious  crimes,  but  these 
calumnies  were  always  disproved  by  investi- 
gations made  before  the  magistrates  of  the 
places  the  Waldenses  inhabited.  The  monks 
could  never  show  proof  of  the  truth  of  these 
stories  which  were  only  invented  to  respond 
to  the  revelations  made  by  the  pastors  of 
the  corruptions  in  the  Church  of  Rome.  A 
monk,  for  instance,  would  say  that  in  his 
youth  he  had  heard  things  which  he  would 
not  repeat  and  much  less  write ;  and  that  he 


56  The  Italian  Waldenses 

knew  well  some  of  the  barbes  appeared  honest 
and  religious,  but  he  had  heard  said  that  there 
were  others  of  their  religion  who  were  not  so. 
He  dared  not  name  persons,    places,   or  any- 
particular  facts,   but  contented  himself  with 
saying  that  "there  were  persons  yet   living 
who  remembered  that  their  fathers  did  so  and 
so."     When  pressed  to  be  more  explicit,  he 
would   say  that  he  meant  not  to  defame  the 
Waldenses ;  but  these  were  things  he  had  seen 
written   in  a  book,    the  author  of   which  he 
had  forgotten  or  would  not  name.     But  many 
bishops,  priests,  monks,  and  historians  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  have  testified  to  the 
honesty  and  good  conduct  of  the  barbes,  and 
also    to   their   piety   towards    God    and   their 
charity   to    men,    admitting    that    their    only 
fault   was   denying   the    authority    of    "Holy 
Mother  Church,"  and  not    acknowledging   it 
as  the  true  Church  nor   its    superstitions  as 
means  of  salvation. 

Pierre  Gilles,  the  historian  of  the  Waldenses 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  says  that  "  so  many 
books  written  by  the  pastors  in  various  places 
and  during  many  centuries  testify  in  what 
esteem  they  held  virtue  and  good  works  and 
what  hatred  they  felt  for  every  form  of  vice. " 
Unfortunately  many  of  these  books  were   lost 


CASCADE    OF    THE    PIS    AT    MASSELLO. 


SCHOOL    OF   THE    BARBES    AT    PRA    DEL    TORXO,    AXGROGXA. 


The  Ministers,  or  "Barbes"       57 

during  the  persecutions  of  the  seventeenth 
century  and  only  those  books  and  ancient 
documents  sent  to  the  libraries  of  Cambridge 
and  Geneva  by  Pastor  Leger  were  preserved. 
The  Papists  took  care  after  every  persecution 
to  destroy  as  much  of  the  Waldensian  litera- 
ture as  possible.  Many  of  the  barbes  were 
learned  men  and  well  versed  in  the  languages 
and  science  of  the  Scriptures.  A  knowledge 
of  the  Bible  was  the  distinctive  feature  of  the 
ancient  and  is  now  of  the  modern  Vaudois, 
and  it  was  so  especially  of  the  barbes,  all 
of  whom  could  repeat  the  Gospels  of  Saint 
Matthew  and  Saint  John,  and  a  part  of  the 
Epistles  from  memory. 

Deprived  for  centuries  of  a  visible  church, 
and  forced  to  worship  in  caves  and  dens,  this 
intimate  knowledge  of  God's  Word  was  their 
only  light.  Their  school  was  in  the  almost 
inaccessible  solitude  of  a  deep  mountain  gorge 
called  Pra  del  Tor,  and  their  studies  were 
severe  and  long-continued,  embracing  the 
Latin,  Romaunt,  and  Italian  languages.  After 
several  years  of  study  and  retirement,  they 
were  consecrated  by  the  laying-on  of  hands 
and  receiving  the  communion.  They  were 
supported  by  the  voluntary  subscriptions  of 
the  people,  a  division  of  the  collections  being 


58  The  Italian  Waldenses 

made  once  a  year  at  the  general  synod ;  one- 
third  to  the  ministers,  one-third  to  the  poor, 
and  one-third  to  the  missionaries.  But  they 
were  not  entirely  dependent  on  these  contri- 
butions, as  every  barbe  learned  some  manual 
trade  or  a  profession.  The  greater  number 
were  physicians  or  surgeons,  but  many  were 
artisans,  and  all  knew  how  to  cultivate  the 
fields  and  care  for  the  flocks  and  herds.  Be- 
fore the  invention  of  printing  they  copied 
large  portions  of  the  Scriptures  for  the  use 
of  their  scholars,  to  whom  they  also  taught 
the  languages  and  instructed  them  in  piety 
and  good  works.  They  visited  the  sick, 
whether  called  or  not;  selected  arbiters  in 
disputes;  admonished  those  who  conducted 
themselves  ill,  and  sometimes  excommuni- 
cated the  incorrigible. 

The  ancient  barbes  of  the  valleys  spoke 
and  used  in  their  writings  a  language  which 
was  a  mixture  of  the  Waldensian  idiom  and 
of  that  of  the  surrounding  countries.  But 
the  pastors  sent  from  Geneva  after  the  pest 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  which  deprived  the 
Waldenses  of  nearly  all  their  barbes,  intro- 
duced the  French  language  into  the  valleys. 
The  missionaries  always  spoke  the  languages 
of  the   people  they  visited,   this   being  the 


The  Ministers,  or  c<  Barbes  "       59 

object  of  their  diligent  study  of  languages  in 
youth  at  the  college  of  Pra  del  Tor.  Every 
year  in  September  the  barbes  held  a  general 
Council  or  Synod  to  review  the  work  of  each 
one ;  to  examine  and  ordain  young  ministers 
and  to  select  the  missionaries  who  were  to 
visit  the  distant  churches  in  Italy  and  other 
countries. 

These  missions  generally  lasted  two  years, 
and  the  barbes  went  two  by  two ;  an  old  man 
called  the  Regidor,  and  a  young  one  called 
the  Coadjuteur.  In  almost  every  city  of  Italy 
they  had  numerous  secret  adherents  who  wel- 
comed them  with  joy.  Even  in  papal  Rome 
there  were  many  who  looked  for  their  coming 
and  gave  them  hospitality.  How  beautiful 
from  the  mountains  seemed  the  feet  of  these 
bearers  of  glad  tidings  to  the  dwellers  in  the 
spiritual  desert,  and  the  short  and  blessed 
season  of  their  stay  gave  rich  fruits  to  the 
Alpine  Church.  Every  pastor  was  a  mis- 
sionary in  his  turn;  the  younger  ones  being 
thus  initiated  in  the  delicate  labor  of  evan- 
gelization under  the  care  of  a  disciplined 
veteran,  his  superior,  to  whom  he  was  bound 
to  render  obedience  and  deference.  The  older 
missionary  thus  prepared  successors  worthy  of 
himself  and  of  the  Church,  and  at  last,  when 


60  The  Italian  Waldenses 

age  no  longer  permitted  these  fatiguing  jour- 
neys, reposed  in  some  parish  of  the  valleys 
from  which  he  was  not  moved  until  death. 
The  great  success  which  attended  these  mis- 
sions in  the  south  of  Italy  in  the  thirteenth, 
fourteenth,  and  fifteenth  centuries  was  proved 
by  the  bitter  cry  of  the  Roman  Church  against 
the  spread  of  gospel  truth  and  by  the  persecu- 
tions which  followed.  The  missionary  zeal 
of  the  Waldenses  was  one  of  the  chief  causes 
of  the  persecutions  which  they  endured. 
"These  Waldenses,"  said  Bernard  de  Foucald 
in  the  twelfth  century,  "  although  condemned 
by  Pope  Lucius  II.,  continued  to  pour  forth 
with  daring  effrontery,  far  and  wide,  all  over 
the  world,  the  poison  of  their  perfidy." 

The  barbes  accepted  with  joy  the  missionary 
charge  given  to  them  by  the  synod,  although 
they  knew  well  all  the  dangers  and  fatigues 
of  these  journeys.  A  Vaudois  preacher,  going 
one  day  into  a  church  at  Florence,  where  there 
were  several  thousand  people,  heard  his  mis- 
sion denounced  from  the  pulpit  by  a  monk  in 
these  words:  "O  Fiorenza,  what  does  thy 
name  mean  ?  The  flower  of  Italy.  And  that 
thou  wast  until  these  Ultramontanes  per- 
suaded thee  that  man  is  justified  by  faith  and 
not   by   works,   and   herein   they   lie."     The 


The   Ministers,  or  "Barbes"       61 

pastors  came  to  the  synods  from  all  parts  of 
Europe  to  preserve  union  among  themselves 
and  maintain  the  uniformity  of  their  church 
service.  At  one  of  these  synods,  in  Val 
Cluson,  there  were  one  hundred  and  forty 
pastors,  and  at  the  synod  of  Champforans, 
after  the  German  Reformation,  many  of  the 
German  ministers  came  to  confer  with  them. 
The  barbes  were  generally  unmarried,  in  order 
to  be  free  for  their  long  journeys,  from  which 
they  often  never  returned.  They  had  no 
religious  scruples  against  matrimony,  but 
would  not  leave  behind  them  weeping  wives 
and  fatherless  children,  when  often  their  days 
must  end  in  the  prisons  of  the  Inquisition  or 
at  the  stake.  The  noblest  martyrs  were  barbes 
who  met  death  by  fire  or  torture  joyfully  or 
patiently  in  the  horrible  dungeons  of  the 
Inquisition.  John  Louis  Pascal  was  strangled 
and  burned,  and  his  ashes  thrown  into  the 
Tiber,  at  Rome,  in  the  year  1560;  Geoffroy 
Varaglia  was  burned  in  the  public  square  of 
the  castle  at  Turin;  another  minister,  with 
white  beard  and  lovely  countenance,  so  charmed 
the  executioners  that  none  would  put  him  to 
death,  although  they  were  ordered  to  do  so, 
and  he  escaped  unharmed  to  the  valleys. 
Cesar  Baronius,  a  cardinal,  and  the  librarian 


62  The  Italian  Waldenses 

of  the  Vatican  in  the  sixteenth  century,  when 
in  Piedmont,  knew  some  of  the  Vaudois  pas- 
tors, and  often  lamented  to  them  the  corrup- 
tion of  the  Roman  Church,  especially  in  the 
profanation  of  the  Holy  Sacrament.  "  Weep 
and  lament,"  he  said,  "for  the  profanation 
of  this  divine  mystery.  O  God !  the  zeal  of 
thine  house  hath  eaten  me  up.  Impiety, 
idolatry,  ambition,  and  venality  surround 
thine  altars." 

Yet  he  dared  not  openly  abandon  Rome, 
which  forgave  his  invectives  on  account  of  his 
submission  to  her  will.  The  Vaudois  pas- 
tors were  less  eloquent,  but  more  courageous, 
yielding  their  bodies  to  the  rack  and  the 
flames,  but  keeping  their  faith.  "Our  rule 
of  conduct,"  said  they,  "should  be  the  word 
of  Jesus :  '  He  who  will  confess  me  on  the 
earth  I  will  confess  in  Heaven,  and  I  will 
deny  him  in  Heaven  who  has  denied  me  on 
earth.'  We  prefer  to  be  repulsed  by  the 
Papacy  rather  than  by  our  Saviour." 


_ 


CHAPTER   IX 

PERSECUTION    BEGUN    IN    THE   YEAR    I476 

The  Waldenses  have  some  tradition,  or 
record,  of  thirty-three  persecutions,  by  which 
their  colonies  in  Calabria,  Apuglie,  Provence, 
the  Plain  of  Piedmont,  and  in  the  Alps  of 
France  were  utterly  exterminated.  Continual 
exile,  martyrdom,  and  confiscations  of  their 
goods  for  many  centuries  also  reduced  their 
numbers  and  their  strength  in  the  valleys  of 
Piedmont.  In  the  year  1308  a  synod  of  five 
hundred  delegates  was  held  in  the  valley  of 
Angrogna.  The  Inquisitors,  with  their  assist- 
ants, then  invaded  the  valley,  but  were  re- 
pulsed, and  the  Roman  Catholic  prior  was 
killed  in  the  skirmish.  Little  is  known  of 
this  and  of  other  persecutions  before  the  year 
1476,  when  Yolande,  surnamed  Violante  from 
the  violence  of  her  character,  the  widow  of 
Amedeus  IX.,  Duke  of  Savoy,  ordered  the 
Waldenses  to  return  immediately  to  the 
Roman  Church.     For  no  other   reason  than 


64  The  Italian  Waldenses 

their  belief,  she  commanded  her  nobles  to 
reduce  these  hardy  mountaineers  to  silence. 
An  investigation  made  by  the  Holy  See  showed 
the  profound  difference  between  the  religion 
of  the  Waldenses  and  of  the  Roman  Church, 
and  Pope  Innocent  VIII.  issued  a  bull  of 
extermination,  ordering  all  nations  to  arm 
and  destroy  them.  He  absolved  from  all  sins 
and  from  any  vows  they  had  made  those  who 
should  put  heretics  to  death.  He  also  annulled 
all  contracts  made  in  favor  of  Waldenses; 
ordered  their  servants  to  abandon  them ;  for- 
bade any  one  to  give  them  aid,  and  authorized 
robbing  them  of  their  possessions. 

Thousands  of  volunteers,  vagabonds,  fan- 
atics, adventurers,  assassins,  and  robbers 
gathered  from  all  parts  of  Italy  to  execute 
the  commands  of  the  pretended  successor  of 
Saint  Peter.  This  horde  of  brigands,  in  1488/ 
marched  to  the  valleys,  together  with  eigh- 
teen thousand  regular  troops,  furnished  by 
Charles  I.  of  Piedmont,  the  son  of  Yolande  or 
Violante,  and  by  the  King  of  France.  The 
persecuted  people  were  accused  of  no  crime, 
even  in  the  pontiff's  bull  of  extermination, 
except  the  "  seducing  of  their  neighbors  by  an 
appearance  of  extreme  sanctity."  But  God, 
in  whom  they  trusted,  raised  his  arm  for  their 


Persecution  begun  in  1476  6$ 

defence.  The  Israel  of  the  Alps  were  inspired 
by  superhuman  courage,  while  the  hearts  of 
their  persecutors  seemed  filled  with  unnatural 
fear. 

The  legate  of  the  Pope,  Archdeacon  Albert 
Cattanee,  before  beginning  this  cruel  work, 
established  himself  in  a  convent  at  Pinerolo, 
a  town  at  the  entrance  of  the  valleys,  and 
sent  forward  preaching  monks  to  convert  the 
Waldenses  by  their  arguments.  These  mis- 
sionaries had  no  success,  and  the  army  then 
advanced  into  the  valleys.  The  Waldenses 
made  a  touching  appeal  to  the  hard  heart  of 
their  persecutor.  "  Do  not  condemn  us  with- 
out a  hearing,  for  we  are  Christians,  and 
faithful  subjects.  Our  barbes  are  ready  to 
prove  that  our  doctrines  are  those  of  the 
Word  of  God.  We  acknowledge  no  other 
authority  than  the  Bible,  and  are  happy  in  a 
pure  and  simple  life.  We  despise  the  love 
of  riches  and  the  thirst  for  domination  by 
which  our  persecutors  are  devoured.  Our 
trust  in  God  is  greater  than  our  desire  to 
please  men.  Have  a  care  not  to  call  down 
His  wrath  upon  yourselves  in  persecuting  us, 
and  know  that  if  God  so  wills  all  the  force  that 
you  have  gathered  against  us  can  do  nothing. " 

And    so    it    was:    for    the    long    lines   of 


66  The  Italian  Waldenses 

Cattanee's  army,  spread  out  weakly  over  the 
plains,  were  broken  everywhere,  and  the  bat- 
talions that  came  to  crush  the  hydra  of  heresy 
were  driven  back  in  precipitous  flight.  The 
inhabitants  had  withdrawn  to  the  mountain 
heights,  from  whence  they  could  easily  descend 
to  attack  the  enemy  in  the  plains,  using  swords, 
arrows,  and  pickaxes  for  weapons,  and  protect- 
ing themselves  by  great  shields  hastily  made 
of  the  bark  of  chestnut  trees,  lined  with  skins 
of  animals.  Full  of  address  and  vigor,  and, 
above  all,  full  of  confidence  in  God,  and  well 
placed  for  defence,  they  killed  many  of  the 
foe,  and  had  but  little  loss  themselves.  But 
they  were  nearly  overcome  on  the  heights  of 
San  Giovanni  or  Saint  John,  leading  to  the 
mountains  of  Angrogna,  a  natural  fortress, 
where  they  had  taken  their  families  for 
refuge.  Seeing  the  enemy  mounting  step 
by  step,  and  drawing  their  ranks  closer,  the 
women,  children,  and  old  men  fell  on  their 
knees,  crying  out  all  together,  with  fervor  born 
of  great  distress,  "  O  our  God,  help  us!  O 
God,  give  ours  strength!     O  God,  save  us." 

"My  men  shall  give  you  the  answer,"  cried 
one  of  the  chiefs  of  the  invaders,  surnamed 
Noir  de  Mondovi  on  account  of  his  dark  com- 
plexion, scorning  their  prayers.     But  raising 


FROM  AXGROGNA  TO  PRA  DEL  TORNO. 


Persecution  begun  in  1476  67 

his  visor  at  that  moment,  to  prove  how  little 
fear  he  had  of  these  poor  people,  this  new 
Goliath  was  struck  between  the  eyes  and  killed 
by  a  stone  from  the  hand  of  Pierre  Revel 
of  Angrogna.  The  Waldenses,  seizing  the 
moment  of  panic  and  terror  which  took  pos- 
session of  the  invading  troops,  made  an  impet- 
uous attack,  and  drove  them  down  the  moun- 
tain vanquished  and  dispersed  to  the  plain. 
Then  on  the  mountain,  with  their  delivered 
families,  they  threw  themselves  upon  their 
knees  to  render  thanks  to  the  God  of  armies, 
who  had  given  them  this  signal  victory.  Even 
their  enemies  were  soon  persuaded  that  God 
fought  with  the  heroic  mountaineers.  When 
Cattanee  the  next  day  organized  a  new  ex- 
pedition by  another  road  up  the  valley  of 
Angrogna,  hoping  to  reach  the  height  of  Pra 
del  Tor,  from  which  he  would  have  been 
master  of  all  the  country  near,  a  fog  —  one 
of  those  which  suddenly  arise  in  the  Alps  — 
fell  upon  them  just  as  they  entered  the  most 
difficult  and  dangerous  paths. 

Unacquainted  with  the  roads,  and  marching 
single  file  over  these  rocks,  on  the  edge  of 
precipices,  they  yielded  at  the  first  attack  of 
the  Waldenses,  and  were  easily  defeated. 
Those   in   front   fell   back   hastily  upon   the 


68  The  Italian  Waldenses 

others;  disorder  followed;  the  retreat  became 
a  flight,  and  the  flight  a  catastrophe.  Many 
fell  over  the  slippery  precipices  which  the 
fog  hid  from  view;  some  were  lost  in  the 
ravines,. and  a  few  only  succeeded  in  escaping. 
This  decisive  victory,  due  more  to  the  will 
of  God  than  to  the  valor  of  the  Waldenses, 
caused  the  deliverance  of  the  valley,  as 
Cattanee  did  not  return. 

To  this  day,  after  four  centuries,  the  place 
where  the  captain  of  this  ill-fated  expedition, 
Saguet  de  Planghere,  fell  over  the  rocks,  is 
called  by  his  name.  Not  only  in  Angrogna, 
but  on  all  the  mountains  near,  where  they 
were  attacked,  the  Waldenses  defended  them- 
selves with  heroic  courage.  Favored  by  the 
nature  of  the  places,  they  put  the  crusaders  to 
flight  by  rolling  down  upon  them  avalanches 
of  rocks,  and  then  descending  to  fight  hand 
to  hand.  The  Legate  of  the  Pope  transferred 
his  operations  to  Dauphiny  in  the  Val  Louise, 
where  he  pillaged  and  persecuted  the  unfor- 
tunate inhabitants.  Seven  hundred  of  his 
troops,  returning  drunk  with  the  massacres 
they  had  committed  in  Dauphiny,  entered 
in  disorder  a  village  of  the  Valley  of  San 
Martino,  believing  themselves  conquerors 
there  also.     But,  suddenly  attacked  on  every 


Persecution  begun  in  1476  69 

side,  they  were  all  killed  or  put  to  flight,  the 
standard-bearer  alone  escaping  to  a  ravine, 
where  he  remained  two  days,  and  then  crept 
forth  frozen  and  famished  to  beg  charity  of 
the  Vaudois. 

This  was  granted  with  the  generous  forget- 
fulness  of  injury  which  Christ  inspires  in  his 
faithful  servants,  and  he  was  sent  home  to 
report  the  total  defeat  of  his  companions. 
This  army,  which  seemed  so  formidable,  faded 
away  like  clouds  before  the  sun.  It  was  said 
to  this  martyr  people,  "  Fear  not,  little  flock, 
for  it  is  your  Father's  good  pleasure  to  give 
you  the  kingdom ;  and  if  God  be  for  you  who 
can  be  against  you  ?  " 

The  Duke  of  Savoy  withdrew  his  own  troops ; 
sent  away  the  legate  on  pretence  that  his 
mission  was  terminated,  and  himself  met  repre- 
sentatives of  the  different  Vaudois  churches 
at  Pinerolo,  to  discuss  the  terms  of  peace.  It 
was  during  these  conferences  that  the  Prince 
asked  to  see  some  of  those  children  who,  he 
believed,  were  born  with  black  teeth  and 
horned  feet.  "Is  it  possible,"  he  said,  when 
they  were  brought  to  him,  "  that  these  charm- 
ing creatures  are  the  children  of  heretics? 
They  are  the  most  beautiful  children  I  have 
ever  seen." 


CHAPTER  X 

PERSECUTION    OF   A.D.     1 56 1 

Never  was  the  promise  of  God,  "  Call  upon 
Me  in  the  day  of  trouble  and  I  will  deliver 
thee,"  more  clearly  fulfilled  than  it  was  to 
the  martyr  Waldenses  in  the  general  persecu- 
tion of  the  year  1561.  The  invasion  which 
threatened  to  annihilate  them  was  converted 
into  the  most  brilliant  campaign  which  these 
heroes  had  ever  made,  and  they  compelled 
their  enemies  to  retire  from  the  valleys. 
Nearly  a  century  had  passed  since  the  last 
general  persecution  of  the  valleys  of  Pied- 
mont,—  years  marked  by  the  most  bloody  per- 
secutions of  their  brethren  in  Provence,  and 
by  continual  vexations  and  martyrdoms  of 
themselves. 

The  German  Reformation  had  revived  their 
faith,  and  at  the  Synod  of  Champforans,  in 
Angrogna,  when  Farel  and  other  Reformers 
met  with  them,  they  vowed  to  confess  their 
opinions  more  courageously  than  before. 


Persecution  of  A.  D.  156 1  71 

The  clouds  grew  darker  and  darker  over  the 
valleys  from  that  time. 

Their  friends  in  Switzerland,  in  Germany, 
and  in  Dauphiny  exhorted  them  to  put  their 
trust  in  God,  and  deputies  from  Pragela,  in 
Dauphiny,  met  with  those  of  Luserna,  to  re- 
new the  alliance  between  these  churches  of 
the  Alps.  On  one  of  the  snowy  Alpine 
heights  they  swore  eternal  friendship  in  the 
name  of  their  God.  It  was  a  scene  worthy 
of  the  ancient  ages,  —  more  romance  than 
history. 

The  day  after,  Jan.  21,  1561,  a  decree  was 
published  in  the  valleys,  ordering  all  the 
Waldenses  to  attend  mass.  If  their  decision 
was  not  made  within  twenty-four  hours  they 
were  subject  to  all  the  punishments  reserved 
for  heretics,  — the  galleys,  the  cord,  the  stake, 
and  the  gallows.  In  this  sad  extremity  the 
Waldenses  offered  ardent  prayers  to  God  for 
deliverance,  counsel,  and  guidance,  and  with 
one  voice  decided  that  as  they  would  not 
abjure,  and  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  find 
a  refuge  elsewhere,  they  would  defend  their 
lives  and  their  homes  unto  the  death.  "  Even 
the  smallest  worm,"  says  the  naive  ancient 
chronicler,  "will  do  that." 

The  barbes  of    Luserna  and   of  Pragela, 


72  The  Italian  Waldenses 

standing  in  the  midst  of  a  dense  crowd  of 
believers,  promised,  in  their  name,  with  their 
hands  upon  the  Bible,  to  keep  that  sacred 
Word  of  God  entire  according  to  the  usage 
of  the  ancient  Apostolic  Church,  and  to  perse- 
vere in  their  holy  religion  even  at  the  peril  of 
their  lives  in  order  to  transmit  it  whole  and 
pure  to  their  children.  "  We  promise  aid  and 
succor  to  our  persecuted  brethren,  without 
regard  to  our  individual  interests,  but  to  the 
common  cause,  not  regarding  man,  but  God." 
Scarcely  was  this  solemn  vow  taken  than 
several  voices  cried  out  with  enthusiasm:  — 
"A  shameful  abjuration  is  asked  of  us  to- 
morrow ;  let  us  to-morrow  make  a  strong  pro- 
test against  the  persecuting  idolatry  which 
demands  it  of  us."  Patience  and  humility 
were  exhausted,  and  the  time  to  show  energy 
had  come.  Before  dawn  the  next  morning, 
instead  of  going  to  the  mass,  they  crowded, 
armed,  to  the  Protestant  temple  of  Bobi,  and 
cleared  it  of  the  rosaries,  the  candles,  and 
the  images  with  which  the  Romanists  had 
filled  it;  their  minister  preaching  afterwards, 
from  Isaiah  xlv.  20,  —  "  They  have  no  knowl- 
edge that  set  up  the  wood  of  their  graven 
image,  and  pray  unto  a  god  that  cannot  save." 
Encouraged  by  the  eloquence  of  their  min- 


Persecution  of  A.  D.  1561         73 

ister,  the  people  set  out  for  Villar,  three 
miles  distant,  singing  inspiring  hymns  as 
they  went,  to  purge  the  temple  there  also 
of  idols.  This  was  a  childish  iconoclastic 
act  of  destruction,  but  the  first  step  in  the 
drama  that  was  to  follow,  as  every  man  knew 
that  by  this  act  his  life  and  goods  were 
forfeited. 

The  twenty-four  hours  of  grace  were  ended, 
and  the  Waldenses  of  Bobi  met  the  garrison 
of  Villar,  which  had  gone  out  to  make  them 
prisoners.  They  drove  them  back  to  the  town, 
and  besieged  the  fortress,  where  the  monks, 
the  judges,  the  lords,  and  gentlemen  took 
refuge.  They  placed  sentinels,  and  prepared 
ammunition,  and  the  next  day  drove  back  the 
troops  from  Torre  Pellice,  which  came  to 
relieve  the  besieged.  Three  times  during  the 
next  ten  days  they  drove  back  the  rescuing 
troops,  until  the  besieged,  reduced  to  extrem- 
ities for  want  of  water  and  provisions,  and 
ignorant  of  the  attempts  at  rescue  made  by 
their  friends,  gave  themselves  up  on  condi- 
tion that  their  lives  should  be  saved,  and  that 
they  should  be  accompanied  to  their  own  camp 
by  two  pastors.  "They  showed  thus,"  says 
quaint  Peter  Gilles,  "  how  much  they  trusted 
these  hated  ministers." 


74  The  Italian  Waldenses 

This  victory  caused  the  traitorous  leader  of 
the  invading  army,  the  Count  of  Trinity,  to 
devise  a  new  method  of  warfare.  As  he  could 
not  vanquish  them  united  in  their  native 
mountains,  he  resolved  to  disunite  them  by 
fair  means  or  foul,  before  destroying  them. 
He  sent  a  gentle  message  to  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Valley  of  Angrogna,  that  they  had 
nothing  to  fear  from  him,  provided  they  re- 
frained from  mixing  with  the  affairs  of  the 
other  valleys.  But,  taught  by  bitter  experi- 
ence, the  Waldenses  were  not  deceived,  and 
returned  no  answer.  They  made  intrench- 
ments,  established  posts  and  signals,  prepared 
ammunition,  and  organized  bands  of  "flying 
companies,"  with  bows  and  arrows.  These 
youthful  heroes  were  always  accompanied  in 
their  sallies  by  two  pastors,  who  calmed  their 
excesses  of  anger  and  prevented  useless 
effusion  of  blood. 

The  righteousness  of  their  cause  must  be 
proved  by  the  justice  of  their  conduct,  and 
every  morning  and  evening,  as  well  as  at  the 
beginning  and  end  of  every  battle  they  knelt 
to  ask  for  grace  and  guidance  in  this  hard 
extremity.  A  second  attack  was  easily  re- 
pulsed, and  the  third  became  a  terrible  rout 
for  the   invaders,  and  a  glorious  victory  for 


kJxm  I  *& 


Persecution  of  A.  D.   1561  75 

the  Waldenses.  The  Count  of  Trinity,  who 
had  brought  all  his  forces  and  employed  all 
his  strategy  to  vanquish  the  despised  enemy, 
wished  to  surprise  Pra  del  Tor,  the  citadel  on 
the  heights  of  "Angrogna,  a  green  oasis  shut 
in  by  terrible  rocks  and  precipices.  There 
the  persecuted  people  had  retired,  carrying 
with  them  mills  and  furnaces,  and  all  things 
necessary  for  subsistence.  The  invader  divided 
his  army  into  three  parts,  to  approach  the 
strong  place  from  different  points;  but  this 
division  proved  his  ruin,  for  one  by  one  the 
parts  of  his  army  were  vanquished  and  almost 
destroyed.  They  fled  before  the  victorious 
"flying  companies,"  and,  unable  to  mount  as 
rapidly  as  the  others  came  down,  were  driven 
over  precipices  and  into  ravines.  Two  of 
their  chiefs  were  killed,  and  one  of  them  was 
beheaded  with  his  own  sword.  They  would 
have  been  exterminated  without  the  interven- 
tion of  the  pastors,  who  ran  to  the  place  of 
carnage  to  defend  those  who  could  no  longer 
defend  themselves.  "To  death!  to  death!" 
cried  the  young  Vaudois,  excited  by  the  ardor 
of  their  victory.  "  No  !  on  your  knees,"  cried 
the  pastor,  "  to  thank  the  God  of  battles  for 
the  success  that  He  has  given  us." 

All    that   day   in   green    Pra  del   Tor  the 


y6  The  Italian  Waldenses 

families  of  these  warriors  had  prayed  without 
ceasing,  and  when  at  evening  they  knew  that 
the  prayer  had  been  answered,  they  made  the 
rocks  echo  with  songs  of  joy  and  triumph, 
and  praises  to  God.  The  victors  returned 
with  arms  and  booty  taken  from  their  ene- 
mies, and  never  had  the  wild  rocks  of  Pra  del 
Tor  witnessed  such  a  collection  of  swords, 
poignards,  halberds,  and  cuirasses. 

In  revenge  for  this  defeat,  the  Count  of 
Trinity  burned  the  town  of  Rora,  not  far  from 
Villar,  and  drove  the  people  to  the  snowy 
heights  of  a  mountain  near,  where  the  night 
surprised  them.  But  they  saw  the  bonfires, 
and  heard  the  songs  of  joy  at  Villar,  and  took 
courage  to  press  on  to  their  friends. 

Many  other  efforts  were  made  by  the  per- 
secuting army  to  subdue  the  Waldenses,  but 
without  success.  "To-day  we  shall  sweep 
these  heretics  away,"  said  one  of  these  soldiers, 
as  they  started  for  the  attack.  "Sir,"  said 
his  hostess,  "if  our  religion  is  better  than 
theirs  you  will  have  the  victory,  if  not,  it  is 
you  who  will  be  swept  away. "  The  fear  of 
them  fell  on  all  the  invaders,  and  the  soldiers 
at  last  refused  to  join  the  army  of  the  Count 
of  Trinity.  Hundreds  fell  in  every  attack, 
while  the  Waldenses  lost,  only  fourteen  in  all 


Persecution  of  A.  D.  1561  77 

these  battles.  It  was  said  that  the  death  of 
one  Waldensian  cost  that  of  one  hundred  of 
their  enemies.  The  latter  were  half  van- 
quished at  the  mere  idea  of  meeting  these 
invincible  foes,  and  a  panic  of  terror  took 
hold  of  them  before  a  battle  began,  for  they 
said,  "Certainly  God  is  with  them,  and  we 
do  wrong."  The  Count  of  Trinity  himself 
sat  on  a  rock  one  day  after  a  defeat,  weeping 
for  the  death  of  a  friend  killed  in  the  attack. 
He  made  another  treacherous  assault  in  the 
midst  of  a  truce  proposed  by  himself,  but  was 
repulsed,  as  usual,  with  great  loss,  and,  fall- 
ing sick,  his  army  was  recalled.  The  Duke 
of  Savoy,  Emanuel  Philibert,  then  at  Cavour, 
granted  to  his  ever-faithful  subjects  amnesty 
for  the  past,  liberty  of  conscience,  return  of 
the  banished,  and  permission  for  apostates  to 
return  to  their  faith.  This  clemency  was 
due  to  the  influence  of  a  woman  —  Margaret, 
Duchess  of  Savoy  —  who  was  a  Protestant. 


CHAPTER  XI 

PERSECUTION  OF  EASTER,  1655 

"  To  propagate  the  faith  and  to  extirpate  here- 
tics," was  the  motto  of  the  Congregation  of 
the  Propaganda,  founded  in  Rome  in  the  year 
1622.  The  Council  of  Trent  before  that  had 
recommended  the  persecution  of  "depraved 
heretics,"  and  the  Council  of  Constance  had 
declared  that  no  faith  was  to  be  kept  with 
them.  The  most  conspicuous  persecutor  of 
the  Waldenses  in  the  seventeenth  century,  the 
Marquis  of  Pianezza,  in  Turin,  found,  there- 
fore, authority  in  his  Church  for  all  the  cruelty 
and  perfidy  which  he  practised  on  the  defence- 
less Israel  of  the  Alps.       \ 

Jesuitism  had  destroyed  in^him  the  honor 
of  a  soldier,  and  all  nobility  of  character. 
He  was  perfidious,  but  courteous;  cruel  but 
devout,  and  he  hesitated  to  employ  no  means 
that  would  serve  his  end.  He  was  guilty,  in 
Passion  Week  of  the  year  1655,  of  an  act  of 
perfidy  without  precedent,  even  in  the  history 


Persecution  of  Easter,  1655         79 

of  the  Waldcnses.  The  Council  of  "propa- 
ganda fide  et  extirpandis  haereticis,"  of  Turin, 
of  which  Pianezza  was  a  member,  was  com- 
posed of  the  highest  dignitaries  of  the  court 
of  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  Charles  Emanuel  II. 
It  met  regularly  at  the  residence  of  the  Arch- 
bishop, and  had  subordinate  councils  estab- 
lished in  all  parts  of  Piedmont  to  spy  out  and 
persecute  the  Waldenses. 

It  urged  the  Duke  of  Savoy  to  cruelties  and 
oppressions  foreign  to  his  character,  which 
placed  him  in  a  shameful  position  before  the 
other  nations  of  Europe. 

"The  spirit  of  the  Papacy  alone,"  says 
Muston,  "aroused  this  tempest.  Rome  was 
the  cause  of  all !  Rome,  barbarous  and 
persecuting ! " 

The  decree  of  January,  1655,  ordered  all 
the  heads  of  families  in  nine  villages  of  the 
lower  valleys  to  retire  within  three  days  to 
Bobi,  Villar,  Angrogna,  and  Rora,  the  only 
places  where  "the  religion"  would  be  toler- 
ated, and  to  sell,  during  the  twenty  days  fol- 
lowing, all  their  houses  and  lands  unless  they 
consented  to  become  Roman  Catholics.  They 
obeyed,  but  sent  deputies  to  Turin  to  repre- 
sent their  distress  to  the  Duke,  who  referred 
them  to  the  Council.     The  Council  refused  to 


80  The  Italian  Waldenses 

receive  them  because  they  were  Protestants, 
and  obliged  them  to  select  a  Roman  Catholic 
to  plead  their  cause,  who  was  forced  to  present 
their  petition  for  clemency  upon  his  knees. 
Three  months  were  consumed  in  this  way, 
delegation  after  delegation  being  sent  by  the 
men  of  the  valleys  to  treat  with  their  foes 
without  obtaining  relief  or  redress.  While 
the  last  of  these  delegations  was  at  Turin, 
waiting  the  pleasure  of  Pianezza  to  receive 
them,  he  had  treacherously  left  the  city  with 
his  army,  and  was  already  at  the  entrance  of 
the  valleys.  On  the  eve  of  Palm  Sunday  he 
appeared  before  Torre  Pellice  and  the  few 
inhabitants  remaining  there,  ordering  them 
to  lodge  eight  hundred  of  his  men  and  three 
hundred  horses. 

All  that  moonlight  night  the  Waldenses 
resisted  his  entrance  to  their  town,  and  when 
assailed  in  the  rear  by  a  part  of  Pianezza' s 
troops,  led  by  one  who  knew  the  roads  through 
the  fields  and  gardens,  they  fled  through  the 
ranks  of  their  enemies  to  the  heights. 

Thus  began  that  Holy  Week  of  1655,  which 
the  Papists  celebrated  by  a  horrible  massacre 
and  incredible  acts  of  perfidy. 

During  the  night  the  invaders  sang  the 
"Te  Deum,"  and  in  the  morning,  after  mass, 


Persecution  of  Easter,  1655         81 

sallied  forth  to  the  villages  and  farmhouses, 
to  chase  the  heretics,  killing  all  they  found 
by  the  way,  and  burning  houses  after  destroy- 
ing the  inmates. 

That  night  new  troops  arrived,  making  the 
invading  army  fifteen  thousand  men. 

It  was  no  longer  possible  to  doubt  that 
the  old  project  of  the  extermination  of  the 
Waldenses,  so  long  fomented  and  acknowl- 
edged by  the  most  zealous  in  the  Roman 
Church,  was  at  last  to  be  executed.  The 
poor  mountaineers,  ill  prepared  for  defence, 
and  in  numbers  one  to  a  hundred  of  the 
enemy,  were  attacked  at  Torre  Pellice,  St. 
John,  Angrogna,  and  Bricherasio,  but  drove 
back  the  invaders  on  Monday  and  Tuesday, 
losing  two  men  and  killing  fifty. 

Pianezza  then  employed  perfidy,  a  weapon 
which  has  often  succeeded  in  vanquishing  the 
Waldenses. 

On  Wednesday  morning,  two  hours  before 
daybreak,  he  sent  trumpeters  and  messengers, 
inviting  them  to  confer  with  him  and  estab- 
lish peace  with  his  Royal  Highness,  the  Duke 
of  Savoy.  He  gave  the  deputies  from  all  the 
towns  an  excellent  dinner,  and  persuaded  them 
that  the  inhabitants  of  the  higher  valleys  had 
nothing  to  fear.  He  professed  to  be  pained 
6 


82  The  Italian  Waldenses 

at  the  excesses  that  had  been  committed  by 
his  soldiers,  and  spoke  of  the  difficulty  of 
restraining  so  large  a  number  of  men,  express- 
ing a  strong  desire  to  send  most  of  them  back 
to  Turin.  If  each  town  would  receive  and 
lodge  a  few  of  them,  thus  giving  the  Duke  a 
proof  of  their  loyalty  and  confidence,  he  could 
send  back  the  remainder,  and  the  towns  of 
the  lower  valleys  would  be  treated  with  less 
rigor. 

Deceived  by  these  fair  promises,  the  dep- 
uties agreed  to  receive  the  soldiers  of  the 
Marquis  of  Pianezza,  and  that  same  evening 
permitted  them  to  enter  their  houses  and  take 
possession  of  their  strong  places.  The  mur- 
derers, impatient  to  begin  the  massacre  which 
had  been  secretly  ordered,  killed  some  of  the 
people  that  night,  and  set  fire  to  a  village 
called  Taillaret.  The  blaze  of  the  burning 
houses,  the  cries  of  the  fugitives,  and  the 
shouts  of  the  persecutors  convinced  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  valleys  too  late  of  their  fatal  mis- 
take. They  lighted  bonfires  on  the  heights 
as  signals  of  distress,  and  sent  messengers 
from  village  to  village  to  warn  the  people 
against  the  traitors.  But  they  were  now  in 
the  power  of  the  enemy,  and  at  four  o'clock, 
on  Saturday  morning,  the  day  before  Easter, 


Persecution  of  Easter,  1655         83 

the  signal  for  the  general  massacre  so  long  in 
preparation  was  given. 

Rested  and  refreshed,  the  murderers  turned 
to  kill  their  hosts,  who  had  kindly  received 
them.  The  horrors  which  followed  are  beyond 
description.  A  cry  of  anguish  rose  from  every 
house.  Little  children  were  torn  from  the 
arms  of  their  mothers  and  beaten  against  the 
rocks,  and  the  old  and  the  sick  —  women  as 
well  as  men  —  burned  in  their  beds,  or  hacked 
in  pieces,  or  mutilated,  or  skinned,  or  left  dying 
in  the  sun,  and  exposed  to  wild  beasts.  Others 
were  tied  naked,  like  a  ball,  with  the  head  be- 
tween the  legs,  and  rolled  over  the  precipices. 

A  priest  and  a  monk  of  the  Order  of  Saint 
Francis  of  Assisi,  escorted  by  troops,  rushed 
from  house  to  house,  urging  on  the  carnage 
and  seeking  for  those  who  were  in  hiding. 
The  mountains  echoed  with  the  crumbling  of 
ruins,  with  the  fall  of  avalanches  and  rocks, 
and  living  bodies. 

Children  left  orphans,  and  lost  in  the  woods, 
or  torn  from  the  poor  relics  of  their  families, 
were  carried  away,  like  lambs  to  the  butcher, 
to  be  educated  in  convents  and  monasteries  in 
the  faith  of  the  murderers  of  their  parents. 

Leger,  the  historian,  who  with  the  hero 
Janavel   had   opposed   the   reception    of    the 


84  The  Italian  Waldenses 

crusaders  into  the  homes  of  their  people, 
visited  all  the  places  of  the  massacre  after  it 
was  accomplished,  and  wrote  down  from  the 
mouths  of  the  persecuted  their  individual 
experiences.  "Let  no  one  say  that  I  have 
exaggerated  these  horrors,"  he  says,  "on  ac- 
count of  what  I  have  myself  suffered.  What 
shall  I  say?  My  God,  the  pen  falls  from  my 
hands ! "  The  heart  recoils  from  repeating 
the  terrible  account  he  gives  of  what  he  saw 
and  heard.  The  lovely  valley  of  Luserna 
seemed  a  burning  furnace,  where  cries  that 
daily  grew  fainter  attested  that  a  martyr 
people  once  lived  there.  All  of  these  noble 
and  courageous  sufferers  might  have  saved 
their  lives  by  abjuring  their  faith.  Many 
continued  firm  in  the  prisons  of  Turin  and 
Villafranca  ten  and  twenty  years  after,  for- 
gotten by  all  but  God. 

Numerous  apostates  who  had  yielded  to  fear 
and  despair  dragged  on  miserable  lives,  bear- 
ing a  heavy  burden  of  shame  and  remorse. 
Two  of  these  unhappy  men  —  far  more  un- 
happy because  they  had  been  pastors  —  were 
forced  by  the  Jesuits,  their  masters,  to  visit 
in  prison  Michelin  of  Bobi,  who  had  suffered 
horrible  mutilations  and  tortures,  and  re- 
mained  firm    in    the   faith,    notwithstanding 


Persecution  of  Easter,  1655         6$ • 

the  torments  of  mind  and  body  to  which  he 
was  still  subjected.  Their  dreadful  duty  was 
to  persuade  the  old  man  to  abjure,  as  they 
had  done.  They  afterwards  returned  to  the 
fold,  touched,  perhaps,  by  the  awful  surprise 
of  Michelin,  when  he  heard  their  object  in 
coming,  which  caused  his  death. 

James  and  David  Prins  of  Villar  suffered 
intense  torments  in  the  prison  of  Luserna, 
without  yielding  their  religious  opinions. 
These  were  two  of  six  brothers  who  had  mar- 
ried six  sisters,  forming  one  large  patriarchal 
family,  the  eldest  brother  and  sister  acting  as 
heads.  This  family  consisted  of  more  than 
forty  persons  living  together  in  harmony,  all 
of  whom  had  their  appointed  tasks  in  the 
house,  the  vineyards,  and  the  fields.  Scenes 
like  this,  of  touching  Christian  simplicity 
and  love  were  converted  by  this  persecution, 

—  known  ever  after  as  the  "Easter  of  1655," 

—  into  a  desert. 

Accumulated  horrors  appalled  the  inhab- 
itants, and  greatly  reduced  their  numbers. 

This  massacre,  prepared  in  cold  blood,  and 
with  horrible  premeditation,  was  followed, 
thirty-one  years  later,  by  another,  which 
resulted  in  the  total  exile  for  three  years 
and  a  half  of  the  Waldensian  people. 


CHAPTER   XII 

THE    "GLORIOUS   RETURN  "    IN    1689 

The  glorious  return  of  the  Waldenses  to  their 
homes  in  the  Piedmontese  valleys  was  an 
episode  in  the  great  war  which,  in  1689, 
convulsed  the  continent  of  Europe.  Led  by 
the  pastor-hero  Henri  Arnaud,  who  acted  on 
the  counsels  of  Joshua  Janavel,  they  availed 
themselves  of  a  fortunate  moment,  when 
both  of  their  persecutors,  Louis  XIV.  and 
Victor  Amedeus  II.,  were  occupied  elsewhere 
to  escape  from  their  kind  entertainers  in 
Switzerland.  Three  years  and  a  half  before, 
Louis  XIV.,  "le  Grand  Monarque,"  to  satisfy 
an  uneasy  conscience,  became  the  champion 
of  the  Papacy,  persecuted  the  French  Protes- 
tants by  revoking  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  and 
urged  the  Duke  of  Savoy  to  drive  out  the 
Waldenses  from  Piedmont,  threatening  to 
send  fourteen  thousand  French  soldiers  into 
the  valleys,  and  reducing  him  to  the  alter- 
native  of   seeing   his   kingdom    invaded    by 


The  "Glorious   Return"  in  1689     87 

foreigners,  or  of  persecuting  the  heretics 
himself. 

Victor  Amedeus  II.  preferred  the  latter,  and 
ordered  the  Waldenses  to  cease  the  exercise 
of  their  religion  immediately  and  forever. 
Every  religious  meeting  was  prohibited  on 
pain  of  loss  of  life  and  property ;  all  ancient 
privileges  were  abolished;  the  churches  must 
be  demolished ;  pastors  and  teachers  must 
embrace  the  Catholic  faith  or  leave  the  coun- 
try within  fifteen  days ;  and  children  must  be 
given  within  eight  days  after  birth  to  the 
curates,  on  pain  for  the  mother  of  being  pub- 
licly whipped,  and  for  the  father  of  five  years 
in  the  galleys. 

This  was  war  to  the  knife. 

"  O  messa,  o  morte,"  —  "  Go  to  mass  or  you 
die."  Three  times  the  victims  sent  humble 
supplications  for  mercy  to  Turin,  but  received 
no  answer,  for  their  sovereign,  placed  between 
two  fires,  refused  to  listen  to  their  cry,  and 
soon  began  the  persecution,  notwithstanding 
the  prayers  in  their  behalf,  made  by  Protes- 
tants of  Germany,  Holland,  and  England. 
On  Good  Friday  of  1686,  when  the  people 
were  gathered  in  the  church  of  Angrogna, 
Pastor  Arnaud  prayed,  "  Lord  Jesus !  Thou 
who  hast   suffered  and  died  for  us,  give  us 


88  The  Italian  Waldenses 

grace  to  suffer  and  die  for  Thee.  He  who  is 
faithful  to  the  end  shall  be  saved."  Then  all 
said  together,  "  I  can  do  all  things  through 
Christ,  who  strengtheneth  me."  The  Lord's 
table  at  Easter  was  so  crowded  that  the  com- 
memoration was  held  in  the  open  air,  and  for 
many  it  was  the  last  time. 

The  fatal  order  was  given  on  April  22,  1686, 
and  in  one  month  the  valleys  were  depopu- 
lated. Two  armies,  the  French  under  General 
Catinat,  and  the  Piedmontese  under  Gabriel 
of  Savoy,  moved  in  concert  against  this  martyr 
people.  Some  were  burned  alive,  some  flayed, 
some  hung  to  the  trees,  some  thrown  from 
precipices,  some  used  as  targets  for  the  sol- 
diers. Forty-two  men  and  a  few  women  and 
children  retired  to  the  heights  of  one  moun- 
tain, and  an  equal  number  to  another,  where 
they  dwelt  in  caves  and  fed  on  wild  herbs  and 
the  meat  of  wolves.  But  the  remainder  of 
the  population,  about  twelve  thousand  —  thir- 
teen thousand  having  been  killed  —  were 
driven  like  cattle  to  the  prisons  of  Turin, 
thirty  miles  distant.  Four  thousand  babies 
were  torn  from  their  mothers'  arms,  and  dis- 
persed in  convents  or  Catholic  families.  Five 
hundred  adults  were  presented  to  Louis  XIV. 
for  the  galleys  at  Marseilles. 


CATINAT. 


The  "Glorious  Return"   in  1689      89 

Eight  thousand  died  in  the  prisons  of  Turin, 
where  they  were  heaped  one  upon  another, 
fed  on  black  bread  and  foul  water,  and  made 
to  sleep  on  the  bare  bricks,  on  the  earth  or 
wet  straw,  eaten  up  by  vermin  and  left  all 
night  without  a  light,  even  when  the  sick 
were  dying.  They  were  melted  by  the  heat 
in  summer  and  frozen  by  the  cold  in  winter, 
while  the  priests  and  nuns  sought  by  every 
infamous  means  to  convert  them. 

When  the  order  came,  obtained  by  the 
entreaties  of  the  faithful  Swiss,  to  liberate 
the  survivors  and  send  them  over  the  moun- 
tains, although  it  was  in  the  depth  of  winter, 
to  a  refuge  in  Switzerland,  all  were  impatient 
to  leave  those  terrible  prisons. 

Weak  and  sick,  they  prepared  to  leave  at 
night,  dressed  as  they  were,  in  rags.  The 
order  was  read  to  them  at  five  o'clock  on  a 
winter  evening,  and  they  walked  ten  or  twelve 
miles  that  night,  leaving  behind,  on  their 
way,  the  dying  and  the  dead. 

The  valleys  were  left  desolate,  the  churches 
destroyed,  the  houses  burned,  the  mountains 
strewn  with  corpses.. 

"Heresy  is  extirpated;  there  are  no  more 
Waldenses  in  the  valleys;  their  religion 
and    their   name    are   forever   proscribed    in 


go  The  Italian  Waldenses 

Italy!"  cried  the  Pope  and  Louis  XIV.  of 
France. 

Three  thousand  five  hundred  Waldenses 
took  the  way  of  exile  with  no  hope  of  ever 
seeing  again  their  beloved  valleys,  and  yet, 
three  years  and  a  half  later,  they  returned 
with  joy,  singing :  "  The  Lord  hath  done  great 
things  for  us,  whereof  we  are  glad." 

Three  thousand  reached  Switzerland,  but 
they  were  walking  skeletons,  weary,  footsore, 
famished,  and  half  clothed.  They  were  re- 
ceived with  a  transport  of  pity,  love,  admira- 
tion, and  generosity.  Shoes  were  given  them 
immediately;  five  thousand  yards  of  linen, 
and  as  many  of  woollen  stuffs  were  soon  made 
into  garments,  and  they  were  taken  joyfully 
to  the  homes  of  their  friends.  But,  not- 
withstanding all  this  kindness,  the  exiles 
pined  for  their  own  land,  and  made  two  un- 
successful efforts  to  return  before  that  of 
1689. 

By  the  treaty  with  the  Duke  of  Savoy, 
Switzerland  promised  to  detain  the  exiles 
even  by  force,  and  prevent  their  return  to 
Piedmont.  Many  were  sent  on  to  Wurtem- 
berg,  to  Magdeburg,  to  the  Grisons,  and  to 
the  Palatinate.  Those  who  went  to  the  last- 
named  country  suffered  in  the  religious  war, 


,.    •    . 


HENRI    ARNAUD. 


The  "Glorious  Return"   in   1689      91 

and  returned  to  Switzerland  more  miserable, 
if  possible,  than  before. 

All  must  be  done  in  secret,  and  the 
Waldenses  would  never  have  accomplished 
their  return  without  the  aid  and  direction  of 
the  two  remarkable  men,  Joshua  Janavel  and 
Henri  Arnaud. 

Joshua  was  a  soldier  and  native  of  the 
valleys  in  1655,  who  had  been  banished  to 
Switzerland.  Too  old  to  take  an  active  part 
in  the  heroic  return,  he  yet  merits  a  chief 
place  in  its  history.  He  was  the  soul  of  the 
enterprise,  and  for  the  part  he  took  in  it  was 
afterwards  expelled  by  the  Swiss  from  Geneva. 
Together  with  Arnaud,  in  secret,  he  studied 
the  route  they  should  take  and  the  means  of 
passing  through  a  hostile  country.  He  knew 
all  the  mountain  passes,  and  counselled  the 
taking  of  hostages,  perfect  union  among  them- 
selves, special  care  of  their  leaders,  and,  above 
all,  constant  prayer  and  faith  in  God.  This 
was  all  he  could  do;  but  his  Christian  heroism 
was  so  well  known  that  these  counsels  were 
obeyed. 

Pastor  Arnaud  —  barbe  as  well  as  leader  — 
was  forty  years  old.  Before  attempting  the 
perilous  return,  he  visited  William  of  Orange, 
who  encouraged  him,  and  supplied  him  with 


92  The  Italian  Waldenses 

money,  well  pleased  to  aid  an  enemy  of 
Louis  XIV. 

Too  long  would  be  the  story  of  the  passage 
by  night  of  the  nine  hundred  warriors  over 
Lake  Leman,  and  the  ten  days  of  fatigue, 
war,  and  pain  on  the  mountains  of  Savoy. 
They  reached,  at  last,  the  borders  of  their 
valleys,  and  in  the  first  town  took  down  the 
door  of  a  church  to  make  a  pulpit  outside  for 
Arnaud  to  preach  from. 

Driven  back  by  the  soldiers  of  the  Duke  of 
Savoy  to  Balsille,  they  defended  themselves 
on  that  mountain  all  the  winter,  and  found 
there  a  crop  of  ungathered  corn,  covered  by  a 
merciful  Providence  until  then  by  the  snow. 
Aided  by  the  fogs  and  winds  and  rains  and 
snows,  which,  a  French  officer  said,  "  seemed 
to  be  at  their  command,"  they  resisted  for 
months  the  attacks  of  an  army  of  fifteen 
thousand  or  twenty  thousand  men.  Retreat- 
ing from  their  barricades,  fighting  inch  by 
inch,  and  at  last  driven  to  the  very  summit 
of  Balsille,  hope  seemed  lost. 

But  one  of  their  captains  led  them,  aided 
as  usual  by  a  fog,  which  hid  them  from  their 
enemies,  along  the  edge  of  a  precipice. 
Escaped  from  that  snare,  they  saw  nothing 
before  them  but  to  wander  from  one  moun- 


VICTOR    AMEDEUS    II.       DUKE    OF    SAVOY    AND 
PRINCE    OF    PIEDMONT. 


From  an  engraving  by  De  l'Amerssini.     Published  in  Paris,  1684 


The  "Glorious   Return "  in  1689      93 

tain  to  another,  until  all  had  left  their  bones 
in  the  snow. 

But  a  great  deliverance  awaited  them,  and 
that  very  day  they  heard  the  wonderful  tid- 
ings that  Victor  Amedeus  had  joined  the 
league  of  their  friend,  William  of  Orange. 

The  siege  of  Balsille  excited  the  wonder 
of  Napoleon  I.,  who  considered  it  one  of  the 
greatest  military  deeds  in  history.  Yet  it  is 
regarded  with  indifference  by  the  thirty  mil- 
lion inhabitants  of  Italy,  few  of  whom  have 
heard  of  it  or  know  the  glorious  history  of 
the  Waldenses. 

They  returned  to  their  beloved  valleys,  and 
with  joy  remembered  the  Psalm,  —  "  If  it  had 
not  been  the  Lord  who  was  on  our  side,  now 
may  Israel  say  .  .  .  when  men  rose  up  against 
us  then  they  had  swallowed  us  up  quick,  when 
their  wrath  was  kindled  against  us." 


CHAPTER   XIII 

EXTIRPATION  OF  THE  COLONY  IN  CALABRIA 

More  than  two  centuries  before  the  persecu- 
tion in  Calabria,  a  colony  of  Waldenses  left 
the  valleys  of  Piedmont,  and  settled  on  those 
fertile  slopes  of  the  Apennines  in  southern 
Italy.  In  the  year  1340  two  young  Walden- 
sian  farmers  were  overheard  at  a  tavern  by 
the  Marquis  of  Spinello  of  Calabria,  express- 
ing their  desire  to  emigrate  from  the  valleys 
of  Piedmont,  which  had  become  too  small  for 
the  growing  population,  the  fields  not  yield- 
ing sufficient  for  their  wants.  "  My  friends," 
said  the  stranger,  "  if  you  will  come  with  me 
I  can  give  you  rich  fields  in  exchange  for  your 
rocks  in  a  country  where  there  is  more  land 
than  there  are  laborers  to  till  it."  This  was 
the  beginning  of  the  colony  that  flourished 
and  grew  rich  in  Calabria,  and  was  finally 
destroyed  by  the  murder  of  nearly  all  its 
members. 


Extirpation  of  Calabrian  Colony     95 

The  two  young  farmers  were  sent,  like 
Caleb  and  Joshua,  to  spy  out  the  land;  and 
on  their  report  that  it  abounded  in  all  kinds 
of  fruit  trees,  in  olives,  and  vines,  chestnut, 
walnut,  and  oak  trees,  the  emigration  was 
decided  upon. 

Young  couples  were  hastily  married,  but 
the  joy  of  the  new  alliances  was  clouded  by 
the  anguish  of  separation  from  the  friends  left 
behind. 

Houses  and  lands  were  sold,  and  the  emi- 
grants set  out  for  their  new  home,  carrying 
the  Bible  with  them,  as  the  ancient  Israelites 
carried  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  and  trans- 
planting their  laborious  habits  and  pure 
morals  to  the  other  extremity  of  Italy.  The 
entire  population  of  the  valleys  accompanied 
them  to  the  foot  of  their  mountains,  the  aged 
fathers  and  mothers  tearfully  embracing,  for 
the  last  time,  those  dear  ones  who  would 
probably  never  return,  and  praying  the  God 
of  their  fathers  to  bless  them  in  their  distant 
homes. 

Silently  the  emigrants  departed  over  the 
green  plain  of  Piedmont,  and  after  twenty- 
five  days  of  fatiguing  travel  reached  Calabria. 
Their  hearts  often  turned  longingly  to  the 
valleys;    but   they   had   with   them    familiar 


g6  The  Italian  Waldenses 

objects,  dear  friends,  and  that  trust   in  God 
which  is  worth  more  than  native  land. 

Towns  had  grown  up  around  them,  to  which 
they  gave  the  names  of  those  in  Piedmont 
familiar  to  their  childhood,  and  the  colony 
became  rich  and  prosperous. 

The  Marquis  of  Spinello  and  other  propri- 
etors rented  them  land  at  a  low  rate,  which 
they  cultivated  according  to  their  own  ideas. 
They  were  granted  the  right  to  unite  them- 
selves in  independent  communities,  to  elect 
their  own  civil  and  ecclesiastical  rulers,  and 
to  levy  taxes  without  giving  account  to  any 
one.  This  was  liberty  almost  unknown  at 
that  period,  and  they  knew  well  its  value,  for 
they  drew  up  a  kind  of  charter  of  these  rights, 
which  was  confirmed  by  the  King  of  Naples, 
then  Ferdinand  of  Aragon.  Their  neat  and 
prosperous  towns,  Borgo  d'Oltramontani,  San 
Sisto,  San  Vincenzo,  and  seven  others  pre- 
sented a  striking  contrast  to  the  filth  and 
misery  of  the  Roman  Catholic  villages  near 
them.  For  the  first  time  in  Italy  the  Wald- 
enses made  this  contrast  evident  which  is  seen 
wherever  Protestants  and  Roman  Catholics 
live  side  by  side.  The  Marquis  of  Spinello, 
impressed  by  their  wealth  and  prosperity, 
offered  them  on  his  land  the  site  of  another 


Extirpation  of  Calabrian  Colony     97 

town,  and  authorized  them  to  protect  it  with 
walls.  This  town,  called  La  Guardia,  was 
afterwards  the  centre  of  the  persecution. 

The  colony  was  increased  at  the  end  of  the 
fourteenth  century  by  the  persecuted  brethren 
of  Provence,  who  settled  in  Le  Puglie,  on  the 
borders  of  Calabria.  Emigrants  from  all  the 
Waldensian  colonies  were  thus  gathered  in 
the  south  of  Italy.  They  were  visited  regu- 
larly by  the  barbes,  who  came  every  two  years 
to  maintain  their  faith  pure,  and  to  keep  them 
in  remembrance  of  the  mother  country  in 
Piedmont.  Until  the  Reformation,  these 
Christians  lived  in  peace,  not  going  to  mass, 
or  worshipping  images,  or  having  their  chil- 
dren baptized  by  the  priests,  and  were  pro- 
tected in  their  faith  by  their  landlords.  Land- 
lords and  priests  were  both  persuaded  by  the 
large  rents  and  tithes  they  gave  to  look  over 
their  heretical  doctrines,  until  the  general 
persecutions  that  followed  the  Reformation 
reached  Calabria. 

The  excuses  made  for  them  by  their  land- 
lords, that  they  were  charitable  to  the  poor, 
just  in  their  dealings,  and  fearing  God,  no 
longer  served,  then,  to  protect  them  from  the 
terrors  of  Rome. 

Aroused  by  the  example  of  their  brethren 
7 


98  The  Italian  Waldenses 

in  the  valleys,  and  following  the  counsel  of 
the  German  Reformers,  they  bravely  resolved 
to  openly  assert  their  existence  as  an  Evan- 
gelical church,  and  asked  the  Synod  to  send 
them  a  fixed  pastor.  Full  of  this  religious 
zeal,  they  did  not  heed  the  prudent  counsels 
of  Barbe  Gilles,  who,  on  his  last  visit,  advised 
them  to  temporize  and  secretly  arrange  their 
affairs  so  that  they  could  retire  to  the  valleys 
on  the  approach  of  the  storm.  A  few  did  so 
and  were  saved;  but  the  rest,  loth  to  leave 
their  pleasant  homes  and  the  comparative 
wealth,  which  in  two  centuries  had  accumu- 
lated, for  the  poverty  of  the  valleys,  remained, 
and  were  annihilated. 

The  pastor  sent  to  them  was  John  Louis 
Pascal,  a  young  soldier,  born  a  Roman  Cath- 
olic, in  Cuneo,  of  Piedmont,  who  had  been 
converted,  and  studied  theology  at  Geneva. 

Two  days  before  he  was  chosen  by  the 
Synod  for  the  mission  in  Calabria,  he  became 
affianced  to  Camilla  Guarini,  like  himself  a 
refugee  from  Piedmont  at  Geneva.  The  poor 
girl,  on  hearing  his  destination,  said,  weeping, 
"Alas!  so  far  from  me  —  so  near  to  Rome." 

They  parted,  never  to  meet  again  on  earth ; 
but  the  letters  of  Pascal  to  her  from  Calabria 
and  from  his  prisons  in  Cosenza  and   Rome 


Extirpation  of  Calabrian  Colony     99 

are  models  of  Christian  love,  patience,  and 
heroism. 

His  zeal  and  courage  in  Calabria  soon  drew 
upon  him  the  wrath  of  the  priesthood.  He 
was  kept  a  prisoner  seven  months  in  the  house 
of  the  Marquis  of  Spinello,  two  months  at 
Cosenza,  and  after  a  cruel  journey  to  Rome 
was  imprisoned  there  six  months  in  the  dun- 
geon of  the  Torre  di  Nona,  only  to  issue  from 
it  to  his  trial  at  the  convent  of  Minerva,  and 
the  day  following  to  his  death  in  the  square 
of  Castel  Sant'  Angelo.  Before  the  Pope  and 
cardinals  he  proclaimed  his  faith,  calling  the 
Pope  Anti-Christ,  and  making  them  wish 
"  that  he  were  dumb,  or  the  people  who  heard 
him  deaf." 

He  was  strangled,  his  body  burned,  and  the 
ashes  thrown  into  the  Tiber. 

The  martyrdom  of  Pascal  at  Rome,  and 
of  his  companions,  Stephen  Negrin  and  Mark 
Uscegli,  who  died  from  famine  and  torture  in 
the  prison  of  Cosenza,  drew  the  attention  of 
the  Roman  Inquisition  to  the  Evangelical 
churches  of  Calabria. 

The  chief  Inquisitor,  Cardinal  Alexandrini, 
who  was  present  at  the  martyrdom  of  Pascal, 
went  to  Calabria,  and  employed  all  the  usual 
arts   of   treachery  to  betray  the   Protestants. 


ioo  The  Italian  Waldenses 

First,  at  San  Sisto,  then  at  La  Guardia,  and 
afterwards,  one  by  one,  in  all  the  Waldensian 
towns  except  those  of  Le  Puglie,  from  which 
the  inhabitants  escaped  to  Piedmont,  the 
people  were  betrayed,  deceived,  tortured,  im- 
prisoned, flayed  alive,  decapitated,  or  burned 
to  death.  Their  corpses,  entire  or  in  frag- 
ments, lined  the  roads  from  Montalto  for 
thirty-six  miles,  and  the  air  was  pestilential. 
Even  the  Roman  Catholics  were  seized  with 
horror,  and  an  eye-witness  of  the  murder  of 
eighty-eight  persons  in  La  Guardia  has  left 
a  thrilling  description  of  the  scene.  "I  can 
liken  these  executions,"  he  says,  "only  to  a 
butchery.  The  executioners  led  out  the  vic- 
tims one  by  one,  wrapped  a  cloth  about  the 
head,  made  them  kneel  down  in  a  place  out- 
side, and  then  cut  off  their  heads  with  a  knife. 
The  same  bloody  cloth  served  to  bind  the  eyes 
of  all.  I  leave  you  to  imagine  this  spectacle. 
I  am  yet  weeping  at  the  remembrance  of  it. 
The  meekness  and  patience  of  those  here- 
tics was  extraordinary.  All  of  the  old  died 
calmly;  only  the  young  betrayed  some  terror. 
I  tremble  with  horror  when  I  remember  the 
executioner  with  the  bloody  knife  between 
his  teeth  and  the  dripping  towel  in  his  hand, 
who  entered  the  house  and  brought  out  the 


Extirpation  of  Calabrian  Colony     101 

victims  one  by  one  to  martyrdom  and  death, 
just  as  sheep  are  killed  at  the  slaughter- 
house." 

Words  fail  to  describe  the  tortures  of  these 
persecuted  ones.  Women  were  burned  to 
death,  men  were  thrown  from  towers,  —  every 
torture  was  applied;  some  were  covered  with 
pitch  and  sulphur  before  being  burned.  The 
colony  was  destroyed;  none  remained  to  tell 
the  tale  except  the  few  miserable  apostates 
and  a  remnant  who  made  their  way  through 
unexampled  perils  and  fatigues  to  Piedmont. 
But  the  memory  yet  remains  at  La  Guardia. 
The  half-ruined  church,  with  part  of  the 
word  "  Evangelica  "  on  its  front,  is  there,  and 
the  people  —  descendants  of  apostates  —  show 
where  the  blood  ran  down  the  hill  in  that 
infamous  massacre. 

When  Signor  Pons,  the  Waldensian  pastor 
at  Naples,  a  few  years  since,  visited  them, 
and  spoke  to  them  in  the  Waldensian  dialect, 
which  they  still  retain,  they  gathered  around 
him  in  the  street,  and  some  wept  as  they 
said  to  him :  "  Why  have  our  people  so  long 
deserted  us  ? " 


CHAPTER  XIV 

LANGUAGE  CHANGED  AFTER  THE  PEST 
IN  163O 

The  language  of  the  Waldenses  was  violently 
changed,  in  the  year  1630,  from  Italian  to 
French,  after  the  pest,  which  deprived  them 
of  all  their  barbes  but  two,  and  carried  off 
two-thirds  of  the  population  of  the  valleys. 

They  accepted  the  language  of  the  Swiss 
pastors  sent  to  their  aid  from  Geneva,  as  they 
understood  French,  from  their  situation  on 
the  borders  of  France,  and  their  relations 
with  Evangelical  brethren  in  the  Val  Louise, 
the  Val  Cluson,  and  the  Val  Pragela. 

French  was  used  in  their  churches  and 
families  from  that  time  forward,  and  is  even 
yet  as  familiar  to  them  as  the  Italian.  But 
their  language  before  the  pest,  and  that  now 
used  in  all  their  schools  and  colleges  was 
and  is  Italian,  and  their  missionary  preachers 
established  in  all  parts  of  the  peninsula,  speak 
the  purest  Tuscan,  learned  at  the  theological 
college  in  Florence. 


Language  changed  in  1630        103 

The  pest,  which  thus  introduced  a  foreign 
language  into  the  pulpits  of  the  valleys,  was 
preceded  by  two  years  of  unexampled  misfor- 
tunes. Terrible  storms  on  the  mountains, 
and  inundations  of  entire  villages,  cold  winds 
which  destroyed  the  last  hope  of  the  chestnut 
harvest,  and  unusual  rains  that  ruined  the 
grapes,  reduced  these  poor  Christians  to  pov- 
erty. The  elements  seemed  preparing  the 
way  for  that  dreadful  scourge  which  soon  after 
swept  over  the  valleys. 

The  pastors,  fifteen  in  number,  met  in 
September,  1629,  in  fraternal  union,  for  the 
last  time  on  earth.  Famine  threatened  the 
land,  and  they  were  constantly  harassed  by 
priests  and  friars.  A  French  army,  sent  by 
Cardinal  Richelieu,  under  the  command  of 
three  marshals  of  France,  invaded  Piedmont, 
carrying  the  pest  with  it.  Soon  there  were 
deaths  in  the  valley  of  Perosa,  and  before 
long  every  town,  hamlet,  and  farmhouse  in 
Luserna  and  San  Martino  was  filled  with  the 
dying  and  the  dead.  The  pastors  recom- 
mended to  the  afflicted  people  prayer,  repent- 
ance, conversion,  and  would  have  ordered  a 
general  fast  if  the  unsettled  state  of  the 
country  had  not  forbidden  it. 

Luserna     and     Perosa    were     continually 


104  The  Italian  Waldenses 

troubled  by  the  passage  of  large  armies  be- 
tween France  and  Piedmont,  bringing  with 
them  the  contagion.  The  pest  broke  out  in 
May,  and  in  less  than  a  month  one  hundred 
persons  had  died. 

Pastor  Gros  of  Saint  John,  and  Pastor 
Bernard  of  Perosa,  each  fifty  years  of  age, 
died  at  the  same  hour,  near  sunset,  on  July 
ioth.  Bernardin  Jajuet,  forty  years  old,  pas- 
tor of  San  Martino,  died  on  the  twelfth  of  the 
same  month.  On  the  19th  the  pastors  of  the 
valley  of  Luserna  met  in  the  church  of  La 
Torre,  and  gave  Pastor  Appie  of  Angrogna 
charge  of  the  church  of  Saint  John,  vacant  by 
the  death  of  Joseph  Gros.  But  the  very  next 
day  Pastor  Appie  was  seized  with  the  disease, 
and  died  in  four  days,  at  the  age  of  forty-five. 
Seven  more  pastors,  and  many  of  the  prin- 
cipal laymen  died  in  the  month  of  August. 
These  pastors  were  James  and  Barnabas  Gay, 
father  and  son,  the  one  sixty  years  of  age,  and 
the  other  twenty-eight ;  John  Bruneral  of  Rora, 
aged  forty-three;  Laurens  Joli,  forty-five; 
Joseph  Chanforan,  fifty-six;  John  Vignaux  of 
Villar,  fifty-eight,  and  David  Javel,  fifty. 
The  surviving  pastors  met  on  the  heights  of 
the  mountain  of  Angrogna,  near  Pramol,  on 
account  of  its  distance  from  infected  places, 


Language  changed  in   1630        105 

and  its  vicinity  to  the  three  valleys,  to  divide 
the  charge  of  the  desolated  churches;  and 
Daniel  Rozel  of  Bobi  was  sent  to  Geneva  to 
ask  help  from  the  ministers  there,  and  con- 
duct young  Samuel  Gilles,  son  of  the  pastor 
of  La  Torre,  as  a  student  of  theology.  But 
these  messengers,  one  thirty,  and  the  other 
nineteen  years  of  age,  were  both  stricken  with 
the  malady  during  the  month  of  September, 
and  before  they  had  set  out  upon  their  jour- 
ney. At  the  beginning  of  October,  besides 
Minister  Bonjour,  who  was  an  invalid  and  had 
retired  after  fifty  years'  service,  there  were 
only  three  pastors  left,  one  for  each  valley. 
These  were  Valere  Gros  for  Saint  Martin, 
John  Barthelemi  for  Perosa,  and  Peter  Gilles 
for  Luserna. 

They  met  at  Angrogna  with  twenty-five 
lay  delegates  to  divide  again  the  care  of  the 
churches  and  make  another  appeal  for  pas- 
toral aid  to  their  brethren  in  Dauphiny  and 
Switzerland.  But  the  scourge  had  not  yet 
done  its  work,  for  one  of  these  three  remain- 
ing pastors,  who  seemed  to  have  been  spared 
by  a  special  Providence  to  represent  the 
afflicted  valleys,  John  Barthelemi,  died  at 
the  age  of  thirty-two.  Anthony  Leger  was 
then  recalled  from  Constantinople,  where  he 


106  The  Italian  Waldenses 

had  been  acting  as  minister  to  the  ambassador 
of  the  Low  Countries,  and  Monsieur  Brunet 
came  from  Geneva,  while  the  pest  was  still 
raging,  bearing  the  assurance  that  in  the 
spring  other  Swiss  ministers  would  follow 
him. 

Peter  Gilles  of  Luserna  at  last,  with  the 
exception  of  Valere  Gros,  remained  alone,  of 
all  the  pastors  of  the  valleys,  having  lost  his 
four  eldest  sons  from  the  pest.  But  God  gave 
him  strength  to  bear  this  accumulated  burden 
of  grief  and  of  labor.  He  went  to  all  the 
parishes,  preaching  twice  or  three  times  on 
Sunday,  and  at  least  once  every  day  of  the 
week,  visiting  the  sick  and  consoling  the 
afflicted.  Calm  and  courageous  in  the  midst 
of  the  dying,  he  communicated  to  them  his 
own  unshaken  confidence  in  God.  "  I  passed, " 
he  says,  "  in  the  midst  of  the  afflicted  villages, 
which  everywhere  showed  signs  of  death  and 
mourning.  Ubique  Indus,  ubique  pavor  et 
plurima  mortis  imago "  ("  Grief  and  fear 
everywhere,  and  many  images  of  death "). 
This  is  the  only  Latin  quotation  in  all  his 
numerous  writings,  at  a  period  when  other 
writers  constantly  used  them.  The  people 
thronged  to  his  preaching  in  the  open  fields, 
which  seemed  to  them  safer  from   infection 


Language  changed  in  1630        107 

than  the  churches,  and  "were  filled  with 
praise  and  thanksgiving  at  the  marvellous 
help  their  Heavenly  Father  gave  them  in 
the  midst  of  such  distress."  The  heat  of  the 
summer  that  year  was  extraordinary.  The 
army  of  Richelieu  pillaged  houses  and  towns, 
and  there  were  conflicts  between  the  soldiers 
and  the  inhabitants.  Before  La  Torre  was 
invaded  by  the  pestilence  the  generals  and 
officers  of  the  French  army  retreated  there 
for  safety,  and  to  have  the  services  of  some 
good  physicians  and  apothecaries.  This  also 
increased  the  woes  of  the  inhabitants,  and 
gave  more  victims  to  the  disease  when  it 
broke  out  there.  Rent,  food,  and  medicines 
became  very  dear;  the  sick  were  not  cared 
for ;  many  of  the  dead  were  not  buried ;  the 
fruits  of  the  trees  fell  to  the  ground,  and  lay 
rotting  there  ungathered ;  the  fields  were  not 
harvested,  and  the  mills  even  were  so  infected 
that  the  people  were  afraid  to  use  them. 

Public  affairs  were  in  disorder,  as  all  the 
men  in  authority  were  dead,  as  well  as  nearly 
all  the  surgeons  and  apothecaries.  One  or 
two  of  the  surviving  physicians,  who  Gilles 
is  careful  to  say  were  not  natives  of  the  val- 
leys, asked  exorbitant  prices  for  the  simplest 
services.     The  interment  of  the  dead  cost  so 


108  The  Italian  Waldenses 

much  that  many  before  dying  gave  all  their 
possessions  for  the  promise  of  burial,  and 
houses  containing  several  corpses  were  burned 
down,  as  the  easiest  way  of  disposing  of  them. 

Many  houses  and  farms  were  abandoned, 
owing  to  the  death  of  owners  and  cultivators. 
The  highways  were  filled  with  dead  bodies, 
and  the  breath  of  the  desert  seemed  to  have 
passed  over  all  the  towns,  once  so  active  and 
happy.  Famine,  pestilence,  and  war  all  to- 
gether afflicted  the  Waldenses,  and  not  even 
then  were  they  free  from  the  persecutions  of 
the  priests. 

Twelve  thousand  inhabitants  of  the  val- 
leys died,  and  a  great  uncounted  number  of 
strangers  who  had  retreated  to  these  high 
regions  for  refuge. 

At  the  close  of  the  following  year,  when  the 
pest  ceased,  the  survivors  began  to  reorganize 
their  affairs,  and  put  their  houses  in  order. 

At  La  Torre  alone  fifty  families  were 
extinct.  Many  large  families  were  reduced 
to  two  or  three  persons;  children  were  left 
without  parents,  and  parents  without  children. 
An  extraordinary  number  of  marriages  fol- 
lowed ;  the  orphans  were  adopted  by  those 
bereft  of  their  own  children,  and  the  churches 
were    reorganized.       "The    History    of    the 


Language  changed  in  1630        109 

Waldenses, "  by  Peter  Gilles,  in  two  volumes, 
written  with  charming  simplicity  and  truth, 
is  a  guide  to  all  historians  up  to  the  year 
1643.  He  began  to  write  it  before  the  pest, 
in  Italian,  but  changed  it  to  French  after  the 
Swiss  pastors  introduced  that  language. 

The  preface  to  his  work,  written  when  he 
was  seventy-two  years  old,  is  addressed  to 
all  the  pastors,  elders,  deacons,  and  members 
of  the  churches  in  the  valleys  of  Piedmont  and 
the  neighboring  valleys.  "You  know,"  he 
writes,  "  in  part,  how  and  by  whom  I  was 
charged  to  collect  the  history  of  our  churches, 
and  with  what  care  I  have  done  it.  I  now 
present  it  to  you,  not  in  our  common  Italian 
language,  as  I  began  it,  but  in  this,  for  the 
reason  already  known." 

This  fact  of  the  sudden  change  of  language 
from  Italian  to  French,  is  confirmed  by  a 
later  historian,  Alexis  Muston,  who  says, 
"Although  the  Italian  language  had  been 
used  until  the  arrival  of  the  Swiss  pastors  in 
the  preaching  and  teaching  of  the  Waldenses, 
the  French  was  then  substituted,  and  Gilles 
translated  his  work,  already  begun  in  Italian, 
into  French.  From  this  period  date  the  rela- 
tions between  the  churches  of  the  valleys  and 
Geneva." 


no  The  Italian  Waldenses 

Thus  is  refuted  the  reproach  often  made  to 
the  Waldenses  in  their  missionary  efforts  in 
Italy  since  1848,  — that  they  are  French  and 
not  native  Italians. 

More  than  once,  with  Piedmont,  they  passed, 
by  conquest,  for  a  time,  under  French  rule; 
but  they  are  and  always  have  been  strictly 
Italian  in  sentiment,  and  also  in  language, 
except  from  the  consequences  of  the  pest  in 
1630. 


CHAPTER   XV 

HEROES 

Even  in  a  nation  of  heroes  like  the  Waldenses, 
some  names  stand  out  more  conspicuously 
than  the  rest.  These  are  Janavel,  Jahier, 
and  Arnaud,  whose  deeds  rival  those  of  any 
modern  heroes.  Janavel  and  Jahier,  in  1655, 
defied  the  troops  of  Pianezza,  and,  with  a  few 
men,  defended  the  mountain  passes  against 
large  armies.  With  six  against  six  hundred, 
Janavel,  then  known  only  as  the  Captain  of 
the  Vineyards  of  Luserna,  protected  his  native 
town,  Rora,  and  drove  back  the  enemy  with- 
out revealing  the  smallness  of  his  own  force. 
With  sixteen  men,  six  armed  with  guns  and 
ten  with  slings,  he  repulsed  the  second  attack, 
made  by  a  battalion  of  the  enemy.  The  vigor 
and  intrepidity  of  his  pursuit  struck  terror 
into  the  hearts  of  the  enemy,  who  fled  towards 
Luserna,  without  knowing  the  number  of  the 
Waldenses,  nor  how  many  of  their  own  they 
left   dead   behind.     Years  after,    in  old  age 


ii2  The  Italian  Waldenses 

and  exile,  at  Geneva,  Janavel  said,  "  We  were 
few,  but  the  stones  from  the  slings  of  those 
ten  boys,  too  young  to  carry  guns,  were  effec- 
tive on  the  retreating  enemy. "  When  a  third 
attack,  with  superior  force,  was  made  on  Rora, 
Janavel  witnessed,  at  a  distance,  the  burning 
and  sacking  of  the  town,  and  then,  with  an 
ardent  prayer  to  the  God  of  armies,  led  his 
little  troop  of  seventeen  men  to  a  place  where 
he  almost  destroyed  the  enemy,  embarrassed 
as  they  were  by  the  booty,  and  the  flocks  and 
herds  taken  at  Rora.  Returning  to  the  Pian 
Pra,  —  a  level  plain  on  the  mountains,  — 
Janavel,  with  his  men,  knelt  on  the  grass  and 
prayed,  "  O  God,  we  bless  Thee  for  our  pre- 
servation. Protect  us  in  these  calamities  and 
increase  our  faith."  Ten  thousand  men,  at 
last,  were  sent  by  Pianezza  to  destroy  Rora,  a 
village  of  fifty  houses,  and  vanquish  the  heroic 
defender.  Janavel' s  wife  and  daughters  were 
taken  prisoners ;  he  was  threatened  with  their 
death  and  his  own  if  he  should  be  taken.  "  I 
prefer  the  most  cruel  torments  to  abjuring 
my  faith,"  he  answered.  "As  to  my  wife  and 
daughters,  they  know  whether  they  are  dear 
to  me.  But  God  alone  is  master  of  their 
lives,  and  if  you  kill  their  bodies  He  will  save 
their   souls."     Janavel    united   with    Captain 


Heroes  113 

Jahier,  a  lion-like  mountaineer,  worthy  to 
be  his  companion  in  these  courageous  deeds. 
Together  they  attacked  the  town  of  San 
Secondo,  and  taught  the  persecutors  to  fear 
them.  They  pushed  hogsheads  full  of  hay 
before  them  to  the  walls  of  the  town,  by  which 
they  were  protected  from  the  hail  of  balls, 
and  set  fire  to  faggots  they  had  brought  with 
them,  making  such  a  smoke  that  they  were 
concealed  from  the  enemy.  In  this  attack 
they  killed  eleven  hundred  of  the  enemy,  and 
lost  only  seven  men.  Fighting  thus  against 
superior  numbers,  crowded  between  a  preci- 
pice and  a  regiment  of  enemies,  throwing 
avalanches  of  stones  on  their  persecutors,  and 
always  beginning  a  battle  with  prayer,  the 
Waldenses  fought  all  that  year  with  Janavel 
at  their  head.  He  was  shot  through  and 
through  in  one  of  these  skirmishes,  but,  after 
six  weeks,  recovered,  Jahier  taking  the  com- 
mand in  his  absence.  The  last  advice  he 
gave  to  Jahier  as  he  was  carried  away  faint- 
ing and  bleeding  was  to  do  no  more  that  day 
on  account  of  the  fatigue  of  the  men,  who  had 
had  nothing  to  eat  until  late.  But  Jahier  was 
tempted  by  the  promise  of  an  easy  victory  into 
an  ambush,  and  there  lost  his  life,  although 
no  Greek  or  Roman  hero  ever  sold  it  more 
8 


ii4  The  Italian  Waldenses 

dearly.  He  killed  the  traitor  who  had  be- 
trayed him,  invoked  the  aid  of  God,  threw 
himself  on  the  cavalry  of  Savoy,  killed  three 
officers,  and,  after  making  terrible  havoc 
around  him,  at  last  fell  dying  to  the  ground 
from  his  numerous  wounds.  "He  showed," 
says  Leger,  "great  zeal  for  God  and  the  ser- 
vice of  his  country,  and  had  the  courage  of  a 
lion  as  well  as  the  humility  of  a  lamb,  giving 
the  glory  of  all  his  victories  to  God.  He  was 
versed  in  the  sacred  Scriptures,  intelligent, 
accomplished,  and  only  wanting  in  prudence 
to  moderate  his  courage."  On  the  same  day 
the  Waldenses  thus  lost  the  services  of  both 
Janavel  and  Jahier;  but  brave  lieutenants 
remained,  and  many  officers  from  other  coun- 
tries came  to  offer  their  services  and  sympathy 
to  the  oppressed  people. 

Janavel  lived  in  exile  after  peace  was 
restored,  and  aided  Henri  Arnaud  to  plan 
the  "  Glorious  Return  "  from  Switzerland  to 
the  valleys  in  1689.  Arnaud,  although  not  a 
native  of  the  valleys,  had,  long  before  accom- 
plishing this  wonderful  military  deed,  united 
his  fortunes  with  those  of  the  Waldenses. 
The  grandeur  of  his  character  appears  in  every 
act  of  that  time.  He  knelt  in  the  forest  of 
Prangins  on  the  banks  of  Lake  Leman,  invok- 


Heroes  115 

ing  the  blessing  of  God  on  the  perilous  expe- 
dition. He  led  the  nine  hundred  heroes,  after 
crossing  the  lake  at  its  narrowest  point,  away 
from  the  chief  roads  in  Savoy,  to  avoid  the 
French  troops  sent  to  arrest  their  progress, 
remounting  to  the  sources  of  the  rivers,  never 
approaching  large  towns,  following  the  crests 
of  the  snowy  mountains  from  precipice  to 
precipice,  and  reaching  at  last  the  beloved 
land. 

Arnaud,  at  the  beginning  of  the  expedi- 
tion, was  not  its  chosen  leader,  but  only  one 
of  the  three  pastors  who  were  to  counsel  the 
General  Turrel.  But  Turrel,  on  the  seventh 
day,  was  killed,  after  having  shown  that  he 
had  lost  faith  in  the  enterprise.  Arnaud 
then  became  the  chief,  and  his  name,  to- 
gether with  that  of  Janavel,  who  planned  it,  is 
now  inseparably  connected  with  the  "Glori- 
ous Return." 

Courage  similar  to  this  was  shown  by  the 
men  of  Saluzzo,  a  colony  of  the  Waldenses 
which  was  afterwards  destroyed.  Churches, 
called  the  "synagogues  of  heretics,"  in  15 10, 
ten  years  before  the  Reformation  in  Germany, 
were  destroyed,  men  were  burned  at  the  stake, 
and  the  rest  of  the  population  took  refuge 
with  their  brethren  in  Luserna,  where  they 


n6  The  Italian  Waldenses 

remained  as  guests  five  years.  Weary  at 
length  of  trespassing  on  the  hospitality  of 
these  poor  mountaineers,  the  Vaudois  of 
Saluzzo  met  in  the  valley  of  Rora,  at  night, 
descended  into  the  valley  of  the  Po,  and  took 
possession  again  of  their  homes.  Five  Vaudois 
only  fell  in  this  expedition,  when  they  struck 
terror  into  the  hearts  of  the  despoilers  of  their 
homes  and  lands,  drove  them  out  by  force  of 
arms,  and  re-established  the  faith  of  their 
ancestors. 

Their  skill  and  courage  in  dispute  was  not 
less  than  their  heroism  in  battle  or  their 
patience  in  exile.  Three  of  the  principal 
men  of  the  valley  of  Perosa  were  ordered  to 
go  to  Turin  by  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  in  1602, 
at  the  instigation  of  the  Archbishop.  On 
their  arrival,  they  were  told  that  the  Duke, 
"  having  heard  in  what  high  esteem  they  were 
held  in  Perosa,  wished  them  to  embrace  his 
religion,  so  that  on  their  return  they  might 
influence  others. "  The  three  heroes  answered 
that  "for  the  great  affection  they  had  for  the 
Duke  they  would  have  yielded  any  point 
regarding  the  concerns  of  this  world,  but  as 
to  their  religion,  which  they  knew  to  be  true, 
they  would  not  leave  it,  and  they  prayed  his 
Highness  not  to  press  them  further  on  this 


Heroes  117 

point. "  At  this  response  the  Governor  poured 
forth  a  torrent  of  abuse,  threatening  them 
with  the  indignation  of  his  Highness  and 
confiscation  of  their  goods.  Not  long  after, 
an  order  was  published  to  all  the  inhabitants 
of  Luserna  and  the  vicinity  to  become  Roman 
Catholics  or  leave  the  place  in  five  days  under 
pain  of  death  and  confiscation. 

The  Duke  of  Savoy  himself  was  lenient, 
but,  pressed  by  the  Pope  and  the  priests,  was 
helpless  to  aid  them.  A  new  order  was  issued 
to  those  who  had  not  left,  to  go  in  two  days, 
unless  they  could  obtain  a  special  permission 
to  remain  from  the  Archbishop,  which  meant 
abjuration.  Sure  of  their  faith,  but  not  ready 
with  their  Bible  references,  these  poor  people 
replied,  "  We  cannot  dispute  with  you,  but  if 
you  send  to  our  pastor  and  prove  to  him  that 
the  mass  and  your  other  ceremonies  are  not 
contrary  to  the  Word  of  God,  we  will  go  to 
the  mass."  The  Archbishop,  believing  him- 
self sure  of  the  victory,  sent  a  safe-conduct 
to  Pastor  Augustus  Gros,  who,  a  convert  to 
Protestantism,  had  been  an  Augustine  monk 
at  Villafranca.  But  Pastor  Gros,  remember- 
ing that  no  faith  was  to  be  kept  with  heretics, 
refused  to  accept  it,  and  invited  the  Jesuit  to 
Saint  John.     The  conferences  which  were  to 


n8  The  Italian  Waldenses 

convert  the  people  to  Papism  began,  at  length, 
with  the  subject,  "The  mass  was  instituted 
by  Jesus  Christ,  and  is  found  in  the  sacred 
Scriptures." 

Pastor  Gros  refuted  all  the  arguments  of 
the  Jesuit,  proved  that  the  mass  was  nowhere 
mentioned  in  the  Bible,  and  at  last,  to  the 
confusion  of  his  Jesuit  adversary,  said,  "  I 
promise  to  go  myself  to  mass,  and  exhort  my 
people  to  do  the  same  if  you  will  reduce  it  to 
the  simple  form  in  which  the  communion  was 
instituted  by  Christ."  These  disputes  were 
constantly  held  in  all  parts  of  the  valleys, 
the  pastors  and  teachers  always  putting  the 
enemy  to  flight  with  argument,  as  the  people 
did  the  armies  with  their  slings  and  stones. 

Some  of  these  unfortunate  mountaineers, 
so  often  disturbed,  deprived  of  their  goods, 
spirited  away  to  far-off  prisons  and  never 
more  heard  of,  tortured  in  mind,  body,  and 
estate,  and  banished  from  their  homes, 
gathered  in  a  band  in  the  mountains,  and 
proclaimed  themselves  defenders  of  the  op- 
pressed. But  as  on  the  mountains  there  was 
no  food,  they  were  often  obliged  to  make 
incursions  to  the  plain,  living  by  pillage,  and 
creating  reprehensible  disorders.  They  were 
called  the  "Banished,"  and  the  "Digiunati," 


H 


eroes 


or  "Fasters,"  and  they  constrained  many  of 
the  apostate  Protestants  to  return  to  their 
faith.  This  system  of  pillage,  habitual  with 
the  Roman  Catholics,  was  only  once  prac- 
tised by  the  Protestants,  except  in  legitimate 
defence  of  their  homes,  and  it  was  then  uni- 
versally condemned. 

Patient  and  uncomplaining,  they  often 
accepted  exile  and  poverty  as  the  least  of 
the  evils  that  encompassed  them.  Rather 
than  accept  the  mass,  which  was  worse  than 
death,  they  "  left  their  beautiful  abodes,  round 
which  the  vine  hung  its  clustering  fruit;  left 
the  shade  of  their  chestnut  groves,  the  hearths 
of  their  forefathers,  the  temples  of  their  God, 
and,  headed  by  their  pastor,  went  forth,  the 
mother  with  her  children,  the  father  bearing 
on  his  shoulders  the  household  articles  of 
most  value  and  utility,  unless,  as  was  often 
the  case,  these  were  left  behind,  to  take, 
instead,  a  more  cherished  freight,  —  some 
aged  parent  or  helpless  invalid." 


CHAPTER   XVI 

MARTYRS 

Every  town  and  city  of  Piedmont  has  wit- 
nessed the  martyrdom  of  some  Waldensian. 
Every  rock  in  the  valleys  is  a  monument  of 
some  death ;  every  field  has  seen  the  martyrs 
tortured ;  every  village  has  rendered  its  quota 
to  the  glorious  phalanx,  whose  names  are 
written  in  the  Book  of  Life.  Unheard-of 
tortures  were  invented  for  them,  but  their 
courage  rose  according  to  their  need.  The 
announcement  of  death  was  received  as  the 
entrance  to  life,  and  the  martyr  often  bounded 
with  joy  on  to  the  funeral  pile  that  would 
soon  reduce  his  mortal  body  to  ashes.  No 
books  could  be  large  enough  to  contain  all  of 
these  touching  stories,  but  some  accounts  of 
the  later  persecutions  have  been  preserved. 
The  barbe,  Martin  Gonin,  of  Angrogna, 
thirty-six  years  old,  was  sent  by  the  Synod, 
in  1536,  to  Geneva,  to  confer  with  the  Swiss 
pastors  on   ecclesiastical   affairs.      Returning 


Martyrs  12 1 

through  Dauphiny,  he  was  arrested  as  a  spy, 
there  being  war  at  that  time  between  the 
King  of  France  and  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  and 
taken  to  Grenoble,  where  the  Parliament  recog- 
nized his  innocence  and  ordered  his  libera- 
tion. But  the  jailer,  having  searched  him  in 
the  night,  found  on  his  person  some  letters 
from  Farel  and  other  Protestants,  and  arrested 
him  the  next  day  on  the  new  charge  of  heresy. 
He  was  examined  regarding  his  faith,  which 
he  openly  confessed,  and  was  then  condemned 
to  be  strangled  and  thrown  into  the  Iser. 
This  barbarous  decree  was  executed  at  night, 
in  order  that  his  persuasive  speech  and  gentle 
manners  should  not  influence  the  spectators. 
Near  the  same  time,  Catelan  Girardet,  of 
San  Giovanni,  in  Luserna,  was  condemned  to 
the  stake,  which  he  endured  with  admirable 
fortitude.  Before  dying,  he  took  two  stones, 
and  struck  them  together,  saying,  "You  can 
no  more,  by  your  persecutions,  destroy  our 
Church  than  I  can  crush  these  stones  with  my 
hands."  Twelve  men  of  Luserna  were  at  one 
time  condemned  to  the  stake,  but  were  liber- 
ated by  the  people  of  Angrogna.  At  another 
time  five  together  were  burned  alive,  making 
a  good  confession  of  their  faith.  Sometimes 
the  proposed  victims,  even  when  taken  in  the 


122  The  Italian  Waldenses 

traps  of  their  enemies,  escaped,  and  spent 
long  years  of  usefulness  afterwards  among 
their  friends. 

Pastor  Gilles,  returning  from  his  last  jour- 
ney to  Calabria,  passed  by  Venice  and  Switz- 
erland, taking  with  him  from  Lausanne  a 
young  man  named  Noel.  In  their  inn  they 
were  accosted  by  some  soldiers,  who  evi- 
dently suspected  them  of  being  heretics,  and 
asked  where  they  came  from,  where  they 
were  going,  and  why  they  were  travelling 
thus  together,  a  small  weak  man  and  a  large 
robust  one.  Gilles  answered  that  he  was  a 
Piedmontese,  that  he  had  been  to  exercise 
his  profession  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples, 
and  that  he  was  returning  to  Piedmont.  He 
and  Noel  succeeded,  with  the  aid  of  the 
tavern-keeper,  in  escaping  that  night,  and, 
passing  over  by-roads  in  the  woods  and  on 
the  mountains,  reached  Luserna  in  safety. 
Many  others  held  firm  in  the  midst  of  tortures 
and  at  the  hour  of  death.  Even  the  judges 
sometimes  implored  the  martyrs  to  save  their 
lives  by  yielding,  adding  that  they  them- 
selves desired  a  reform  in  the  Church,  but 
not  out  of  it.  But,  like  Saint  Paul,  the 
Waldenses  boldly  preached  Christ  and  Him 
crucified,  and  often  drew  tears  from  the  eyes 


Martyrs  123 

of  those  who  condemned  them  to  an  awful 
death.  This  serene  strength  of  soul,  superior 
to  the  ancient  Stoicism,  upheld  them  at  the 
supreme  hour.  They  accepted  martyrdom  like 
any  other  service  for  God.  "Lord  God, 
Father  Eternal  and  Omnipotent,  we  confess, 
before  Thy  divine  majesty,  that  we  are  miser- 
able sinners,  incapable  of  any  good.  Have 
pity  upon  us,  Holy  God,  Father  of  Mercy, 
and  pardon  our  sins,  for  the  love  of  Jesus 
Christ,  Thy  Son,  our  only  Redeemer."  This 
prayer,  so  often  on  the  lips  of  dying  martyrs, 
is  still  used  in  the  service  of  the  Waldensians 
of  the  valleys  as  well  as  in  those  of  Rome, 
Florence,  Naples,  Venice,  Turin,  Milan, 
and  the  other  cities,  where  they  now  have 
churches. 

Geoffray  Varaglia,  the  son  of  one  of  the 
persecutors  sent  to  the  Waldensian  valleys 
by  Innocent  VIII.,  became  pastor  of  the  very 
town  that  his  father  had  laid  waste.  His 
story  is  one  of  the  most  touching  in  all  the 
history  of  the  Waldenses.  He  was  born  at 
the  Piedmontese  town  of  Busca,  entered  the 
Roman  Catholic  priesthood  in  1522,  and, 
having  remarkable  intelligence  and  great  elo- 
quence, attracted  the  attention  of  his  supe- 
riors.    He  was  selected  to  study  and  refute 


124  The  Italian  Waldenses 

the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation,  the  same 
as  those  of  the  ancient  Waldenses,  which  had 
taken  new  life  at  the  Synod  of  Angrogna,  when 
Farel  and  other  reformers  were  present.  With 
one  companion  and  ten  assistants,  Varaglia 
was  ordered  to  go  over  the  cities  of  Italy  to 
raise  the  credit  of  the  Roman  Church  by  his 
eloquent  preaching.  But  these  twelve  men 
were  all  soon  convinced  of  the  truth  of  the 
doctrines  they  were  called  to  refute,  and  were 
imprisoned  in  Rome  five  years,  their  new 
faith  by  this  long  seclusion  growing  daily 
stronger.  When  Varaglia  was  at  length  re- 
leased, he  attached  himself  to  the  legation  of 
the  Papacy  in  Paris ;  but  the  voice  of  con- 
science and  the  horror  excited  in  his  mind  by 
the  persecutions  in  Provence  induced  him  to 
quit  his  lucrative  position,  and  go  to  Geneva 
to  study  the  new  theology.  At  fifty  years 
of  age  Varaglia  began  his  pastorate  at  San 
Giovanni  of  Luserna,  filled  with  an  ardor  that 
he  had  not  felt  in  his  youth.  Returning  from 
a  visit  to  Busca,  his  native  town,  he  was  spied 
and  taken  prisoner  to  Turin,  and,  after  trial 
and  condemnation,  led  to  the  stake  in  the 
square  of  the  castle  of  that  city.  When  he 
heard  the  decree  he  said  quietly  to  the 
judges,    "Be  sure,   my  lords,    that   you   will 


Martyrs  125 

need  wood  for  the  funeral  piles  sooner  than 
Evangelical  ministers  to  burn  on  them,  for 
these  increase  in  numbers  day  by  day,  and 
the  word  of  God  endures  forever."  After 
Varaglia  had  mounted  the  pile,  the  execu- 
tioner approached  and  knelt  before  him,  to 
ask  forgiveness  for  putting  him  to  death.  "  I 
pardon  not  only  you,"  said  the  martyr,  "but 
all  the  others  who  have  caused  it. " 

An  old  man,  who  had  already  suffered  much 
for  the  truth,  was  led  to  Varaglia' s  place  of 
martyrdom,  and,  after  being  made  to  witness 
it,  was  whipped,  and  then  branded  with  red- 
hot  irons  heated  at  the  fire  which  had  reduced 
the  strangled  body  of  his  friend  to  ashes. 

Nicholas  Sartoris,  twenty-six  years  of  age, 
a  native  of  the  valleys,  who  had  studied  at 
Lausanne,  was  present  at  Aosta  when  a  priest 
said  that  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  was  renewed 
every  day  in  the  mass.  "Christ  died  but 
once,"  murmured  Sartoris,  "and  is  now  in 
heaven."  For  this  he  was  imprisoned,  tor- 
tured, and  at  last  burned  at  Aosta,  May  4, 
1557,  courageously  refusing  to  purchase  life 
at  the  cost  of  abjuration.  The  cruelty  of 
their  enemies  was  sometimes  foiled  when 
everything  was  ready  for  the  execution. 
Several  of  "  the  religion,"  condemned  to  death, 


126  The  Italian  Waldenses 

were  saved  by  a  heavy  fall  of  snow  and  rain, 
which  prevented  the  wood  from  burning, 
and  during  the  night  were  enabled  to  escape 
to  their  friends,  glorifying  God  for  their 
deliverance. 

A  pastor,  named  Jacob,  who  was  bound  to 
the  stake  with  his  mouth  gagged  so  that  he 
should  not  speak  to  the  bystanders,  so  moved 
his  judges  by  the  expression  of  resignation 
and  strength  upon  his  countenance  that  one 
of  them  resolved  never  again  to  take  part  in 
such  proceedings ;  and  another,  the  Count  of 
Racconis,  from  that  time  no  longer  a  perse- 
cutor, sought  in  every  way  to  befriend  this 
afflicted  people.  The  speechless  death  of  this 
martyr  was  thus  more  useful  to  his  friends 
than  a  victory  on  the  battlefield. 

The  Abbey  of  Pinerolo,  founded  by  the 
Countess  Adelaide,  of  Morienne,  in  the  year 
606,  was  inhabited  by  rich  monks,  who  were 
mortal  enemies  of  the  Protestants  of  the 
valley  of  Perosa,  which  touches  Pinerolo. 
They  hired  about  three  hundred  desperadoes, 
and  sent  them  frequently  into  the  valley  to 
burn,  destroy,  and  practise  every  kind  of 
cruelty  and  brigandage  on  helpless  men  and 
women.  These  raids  were  often  made  upon 
the  town  of  Saint  Germain,  only  three  miles 


Martyrs  127 

distant,  and  the  victims  were  dragged  to 
Pinerolo,  and  imprisoned  in  the  dungeons  of 
the  abbey  until  the  judges  found  time  to  con- 
demn them  to  fire  or  to  the  galleys.  The 
pastor  of  Saint  Germain,  hearing  one  night 
a  voice  that  he  knew  calling  him,  went  out  of 
his  house,  and  found  himself  betrayed  into 
the  hands  of  these  marauders,  who  had  accom- 
panied the  traitor  to  make  him  prisoner. 
Several  men  of  Saint  Germain,  who  ran  to 
his  aid,  were  either  killed,  wounded,  or  taken 
prisoner;  the  houses  were  sacked,  and  the 
minister,  together  with  some  women,  dragged 
to  the  abbey.  The  minister,  after  resisting 
all  efforts  to  make  him  retract,  was  burned  at 
a  slow  fire,  the  faggots  of  which  were  brought 
by  the  poor  reluctant  women,  his  parishioners. 
Preaching  monks  were  often  sent  into  towns 
to  urge  persecutions,  and  it  is  recorded  that 
one  of  these,  during  a  mild  winter,  proclaimed 
that  God  meant  to  save  the  wood  so  that  more 
heretics  might  be  burned. 

The  martyrs  and  sufferers  were  not  all 
of  humble  condition,  or  even  pastors  and 
teachers.  Many  of  the  nobles  of  Luserna 
and  of  the  plain  of  Piedmont  accepted  the 
pure  religion  of  the  Waldenses,  and  in  times 
of  persecution  retired  to  the  valleys  for  pro- 


128  The  Italian  Waldenses 

tection  and  sympathy.  The  noble  family  of 
Villanova  Sollaro,  consisting  of  six  brothers, 
resisted  all  efforts  to  make  them  apostatize. 
"Let  his  Highness,"  said  they,  "ask  of  us 
any  sacrifice  but  that  of  our  faith;"  but  as 
the  Duke  of  Savoy  was  determined  not  to 
have  "two  religions"  in  his  kingdom,  they 
hastily  sold  part  of  their  possessions  and 
retired  into  the  marquisate  of  Saluzzo,  then 
owned  by  France.  The  record  of  their  five 
years  of  trouble  and  domestic  agitation,  always 
wandering  between  Saluzzo  and  Piedmont, 
has  been  preserved.  They  were  at  length 
cited  to  appear  before  the  Senate  of  Turin 
with  other  persons  of  high  degree,  culpa- 
ble, like  them,  of  being  Protestants  —  were 
condemned  and  banished,  their  wealth  con- 
fiscated, and  the  members  of  the  family 
dispersed.  One  of  the  brothers  retired  to 
the  valley  of  Luserna,  where  his  family 
existed  for  more  than  a  century.  The  record 
of  the  martyrs  might  be  continued,  but  this  is 
enough  to  prove  their  courage,  their  patience, 
and  humility. 

Another  list  might  be  made  of  the  unhappy 
apostates,  who,  to  save  their  lives  and  fortunes, 
denied  the  convictions  of  their  hearts,  and 
dragged  out  for   years  miserable  lives,   leav- 


Martyrs  129 

ing  the  inheritance  of  a  false  and  cruel 
religion  to  their  posterity.  But  the  saintly 
courage  of  the  martyrs  was  not  possessed  by 
all.  Perhaps  even  on  the  families  of  the 
apostates  a  blessing  rested,  for  the  sake  of 
ancient  martyred  ancestors,  that  afterwards 
blossomed  in  all  Piedmont  into  the  flower  of 
Liberty. 


CHAPTER   XVII 

WOMEN 

Many  women  courageously  shared  in  the  per- 
secutions suffered  by  their  people,  and  gave 
up  their  lives  at  the  stake  or  on  the  wheel. 
Some  noble  ladies  of  Piedmont  and  Dauphiny 
openly  professed  the  evangelical  faith,  and 
protected  the  oppressed,  even  at  the  loss  of 
all  their  possessions.  Others,  of  royal  line- 
age or  of  noble  birth,  were  distinguished  for 
their  cruelty  and  bigotry.  The  most  con- 
spicuous of  these  persecutors  were  Yolande, 
sister  of  Louis  XL  of  France,  and  wife  of 
Amedeus  IX.,  Duke  of  Savoy,  who,  in  1476, 
issued  an  edict  ordering  all  the  inhabitants 
of  Pinerolo,  Cavour,  and  Luserna  to  become 
Roman  Catholics;  and  Maria  Cristina  of 
France,  regent  for  her  two  sons,  and  gen- 
erally called  Madame  Royale.  In  the  per- 
secution of  1655  this  royal  lady  of  the  houses 
of  France  and  of  Savoy  tried  to  prevent  the 
remnant   of   the   massacred   population   from 


Women  131 

taking  refuge  in  the  valleys  of  France  after 
climbing  the  precipices  and  crossing  the  snow 
and  ice  of  the  mountains.  She  wrote  to  the 
court  of  France,  urging  Mazarin  to  send  them 
back  to  her  that  they  might  be  massacred, 
but  he  refused  her  tiger-like  request,  saying 
that  humanity  compelled  him  to  give  an 
asylum  to  the  fugitive  Waldenses.  Marguerite 
de  Foix,  widow  of  the  Marquis  of  Saluzzo, 
who  was  the  slave  of  her  confessor,  became 
in  his  hands,  in  1499,  an  instrument  of  perse- 
cution. Being  a  relative  of  Pope  Julius  II., 
she  had  a  bishopric  on  her  marquisate,  and  at 
the  suggestion  of  the  priests,  by  whom  she 
was  surrounded,  issued  a  decree  by  which  all 
the  Protestants  on  her  lands  should  leave  or 
be  put  to  death.  She  drove  most  of  her 
unhappy  subjects  out;  imprisoned,  tortured, 
and  killed  those  who  remained,  afterwards 
taking  possession  of  their  houses  and  lands. 
Most  of  the  fugitives  took  refuge  in  the  valley 
of  Luserna  in  the  towns  of  Angrogna,  Rora, 
and  Bobi,  remaining  there  as  guests  five 
years,  and  sending  frequent  petitions  to  the 
Marchioness  of  Saluzzo  for  permission  to 
return  to  their  homes,  all  of  which  she 
refused.  The  situation  became  at  length 
unbearable,  and  they  took  by  force  what  was 


132  The  Italian  Waldenses 

refused  them  in  justice,  losing  only  five  men 
in  the  conflict. 

In  contrast  to  this,  Blanche,  widow  of  the 
Count  of  Luserna  and  lord  of  Angrogna,  sympa- 
thized with  her  persecuted  subjects  in  the  inva- 
sion made  by  Commissioner  Bersour,  in  the  year 
1535.  She  reproached  him  for  the  cruelties 
practised  upon  them,  and  for  the  want  of  re- 
spect to  her  and  to  the  memory  of  her  husband. 

The  saintly  patience  of  the  martyrs  and  of 
the  tortured,  brought  to  the  castle  where 
Bersour  committed  his  cruelties,  so  moved 
the  heart  of  one  of  his  sons,  Louis  Bersour, 
and  of  his  wife,  Cristine  Farine,  that  they 
became  Protestants,  and  suffered  great  losses 
with  the  people  of  God.  Their  son,  Paul 
Bersour,  a  learned  and  pious  physician,  lived 
in  the  valley  of  Luserna,  and  left  a  family 
which  long  preserved  his  name  and  that  of 
their  ancestor,  the  great  persecutor  of  the 
church.  Leonora,  daughter  of  the  Count  of 
Luserna,  and  the  wife  of  Valentine  Boulle, 
who  long  faithfully  resisted  the  persuasions 
and  threats  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  was  not  less 
resolute  than  her  husband  in  attachment  to  the 
religion  she  had  adopted.  Subjected  to  con- 
tinual annoyances,  they  at  last  retired  to  Bobi, 
hoping  there  to  escape  further  persecution. 


Women  133 

The  Protestant  Countesses  of  Luserna  often, 
in  times  of  severe  persecution,  used  their 
influence  to  protect  the  persecuted,  —  or,  if 
Papists,  tried  to  persuade  them  to  abandon 
their  religion,  and  thus  save  their  lives  and 
fortunes.  But  the  best  friend  they  had  among 
these  titled  women  was  Marguerite  of  Valois, 
sister  of  Henry  II.  of  France,  and  wife  of 
Emanuel  Philibert,  Duke  of  Savoy.  She 
had  learned  to  admire  the  Protestant  religion 
from  her  paternal  aunt,  Margaret  of  Navarre, 
and  also  from  her  maternal  aunt,  Ren£e, 
Duchess  of  Este,  daughter  of  Louis  XII.  of 
France,  both  of  whom  were  Protestants. 

Like  them,  she  protected  the  persecuted 
when  she  could,  but  the  persistence  of  the 
Pope,  priests,  and  friars  was  such  that  she 
was  powerless  to  help  them  when  the  Duke 
was  obliged  to  issue  an  edict  of  persecution. 
One  of  the  touching  epistles  directed  to  her 
by  the  pastors  of  the  little  Alpine  flock  is 
preserved  by  the  historian,  Gilles.  "Your 
Grace,"  it  says,  "  is  not  ignorant  of  the  beau- 
tiful examples  of  those  good  women,  Deborah, 
Esther,  and  Judith,  who,  in  positions  like 
yours,  spared  not  their  own  lives,  and  the 
Lord  did  great  things  for  them  in  delivering 
his  poor  people,   and  gave  them  great  glory 


134  The  Italian  Waldenses 

and  honor  not  only  on  earth  but  in  heaven. 
Madame,  this  good  God  calls  you  to  receive 
the  honors  of  these  women.  Will  you  permit 
the  Lord  Jesus  to  be  driven  from  your  king- 
dom, and  that  the  land  where  you  live  and 
have  so  much  power  should  be  bathed  in  his 
blood  before  your  eyes  ?  "  The  long  letter  of 
which  this  is  a  part  is  signed  by  "  The  poor 
and  humble  subjects,  the  inhabitants  of  the 
valleys  of  Luserna,  Angrogna,  Perosa,  and 
San  Martino,  and  all  those  of  the  plain  who 
invoke  only  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus." 
During  all  her  reign  as  wife  of  Emanuel 
Philibert,  she  presented  their  petitions  to 
the  Duke,  received  their  deputations,  sym- 
pathized with  them  in  their  sufferings,  and 
when  they  were  imprisoned  sent  them  food 
from  her  own  table. 

Pastor  Noel,  who  was  sent  to  the  court  to 
obtain  her  intercession,  writes  thus  of  her  to 
his  brethren,  the  ministers  of  Luserna:  "I 
have  seen  Madame  the  Princess,  and  thanked 
her  for  all  the  pain  and  labor  she  takes  for 
us,  and  for  the  favors  that  she,  through  God, 
has  obtained  for  us.  I  cannot  tell  you  of  all 
the  kindness  and  affection  this  virtuous  lady 
has  shown  us."  Some  of  her  letters  to  her 
"  Dear   and   well-beloved   friends "    are   pre- 


Women 


35 


served,  and  prove  the  care  she  had  for  their 
interests,  and  her  respect  for  liberty  of  con- 
science, which,  she  said,  "no  one  ought  to 
offend."  She  was  deceived  by  the  cruel 
Governor  Castrocaro,  whom  she  placed  over 
her  faithful  Waldenses,  believing  his  specious 
promises  of  kindness  to  them.  But  they 
never  lost  confidence  in  her,  and  lamented 
her  death,  which  occurred  in  the  year  1574. 
She  continually  exhorted  the  churches  to  obey 
Castrocaro,  and  they,  for  the  "great  love 
which  they  bore  to  their  sovereign  lady  and 
princess,  who  had  so  often  befriended  them," 
tried  to  please  her,  but  suffered  much  from 
his  persecutions. 

History  recounts  the  martyrdom  of  many 
women  of  the  Piedmontese  Alps.  Some  were 
buried  alive;  some  left  wounded  and  starving 
to  die  on  the  snow;  some  were  cut  to  pieces, 
and  others  put  to  death  in  modes  too  horrible 
to  describe.  Camilla  Guarini,  the  very  day 
that  she  was  affianced  to  John  Louis  Pascal, 
heard  that  he  was  appointed  missionary  pas- 
tor to  Calabria.  It  is  uncertain  whether  they 
married  at  Lausanne,  previous  to  his  depart- 
ure, but  she  never  saw  him  again,  and  her 
heart  was  broken  with  grief  for  the  tortures 
he  suffered  at  Cosenza,  at  Naples,  at  Rome 


136  The  Italian  Waldenses 

in  the  Torre  di  Nona,  and  finally  at  the  stake 
in  Castel  Sant'  Angelo.  The  letters  he  wrote 
to  her  at  that  time  are  models  of  affection  and 
courageous  faith  and  hope.  Another  martyr, 
before  his  fiery  death,  wrote  to  "Anne,  his 
faithful  spouse,  and  well-beloved  sister," 
praying  her  to  remain  true  to  the  faith  she 
had  adopted.  "  If  the  world  and  poverty 
affright  thy  youth,"  he  says,  "marry  again 
some  other  man  who  fears  God,  and  remem- 
ber me  only  as  a  handful  of  dust.  Trust  in 
God.  Pray  to  Him,  love  Him  and  serve 
Him,  and  He  will  never  forsake  thee." 
Jeanne  Mathurin  of  Carignano  asked  leave 
of  the  persecutors  to  visit  her  husband  in 
prison,  as  she  had  something  to  say  to  him 
"for  his  good."  She  was  permitted  to  enter, 
the  Inquisitors  believing  that  she  intended  to 
persuade  him  to  recant.  But  this  courageous 
daughter  of  the  martyrs,  fearing  that  her  hus- 
band might,  from  weakness  or  affection  for 
her,  fail  at  the  last  hour,  earnestly  exhorted 
him  to  persevere  in  his  religion,  and  not 
weigh  the  short  life  of  this  mortal  body 
against  his  eternal  salvation.  She  was  fiercely 
insulted  by  the  priests,  who  were  transported 
with  fury  at  hearing  language  so  different 
from  what  they  had  anticipated,  and,  refusing 


Women  137 

to  retract,  she  also  was  kept  prisoner,  and  was 
burned  at  the  stake  with  her  husband  three 
days  after.  "God  be  thanked,"  said  this 
heroic  young  woman  to  her  husband,  "  He 
united  us  on  earth,  and  He  will  not  separate 
us  in  death.  We  shall  meet  in  Heaven." 
One  of  the  most  touching  stories  is  that  of 
Octavia  Sollaro,  the  daughter  of  one  of  the 
six  brothers  of  the  noble  family  of  the  Sollaro, 
who,  to  escape  persecution  in  the  plain  of 
Piedmont,  took  refuge  in  the  valley  of  Luserna. 
After  long  hesitation,  she  consented  to  marry 
a  rich  and  noble  lord  of  Piedmont,  who  prom- 
ised to  respect  her  religion.  But  he  proved 
faithless  to  his  word,  denied  her  liberty  to 
make  any  public  profession  of  her  faith,  and 
deprived  her  of  the  Bible  and  other  religious 
books.  Octavia  Sollaro,  although  restored  to 
the  wealth  and  titles  of  her  ancestors,  pined 
away,  from  this  constant  friction  with  the  will 
of  her  husband  and  from  the  reproaches  of  her 
own  conscience.  When  some  good  women  of 
the  valleys  went  to  visit  her,  and  "hoped  that 
God  would  soon  restore  her  to  health,"  she 
answered,  sadly,  "  No,  do  not  ask  God  for 
that,  but  pray  rather  with  me,  that  He  will 
take  me  out  of  this  life  while  I  yet  love  his 
truth,  and  while  the  little  light  that  remains 


138  The  Italian  Waldenses 

to  me  is  mine,"  and  soon  after  died.  Gilles, 
who  relates  this  story  in  few  and  austere  words, 
adds,  "I  tell  this,  so  that  others  may  profit 
by  it  on  similar  occasions."  The  wife  of  a 
man  who,  in  conversation  with  some  Papists, 
said  "he  thanked  God  that  the  Duke  was 
more  moderate  and  merciful  than  they " 
—  because  when  he  refused  to  recant  they 
imprisoned  him  —  went  to  Turin,  threw  her- 
self at  the  feet  of  the  Duke,  explained  her 
husband's  words  as  a  compliment  instead  of 
a  reproach,  and  saved  him  from  the  jaws  of 
the  lion.  Sometimes  man  and  wife  who  were 
more  nearly  related  than  the  papal  Church 
arbitrarily  allowed,  were  separated,  the  hus- 
band sent  to  the  galleys,  and  the  wife  pub- 
licly whipped.  A  woman  who  was  accused  of 
preaching,  "dressed  in  a  great  black  robe," 
was  put  five  times  to  "the  question,"  in  pres- 
ence of  the  clerical  and  civil  authorities  of  the 
place.  Two  beautiful  girls  were  stolen  — 
taken  in  a  carriage  to  Turin,  and  never  heard 
of  more.  Maidens  threw  themselves  from 
precipices  to  escape  dishonor;  mothers  pierced 
their  own  bosoms  with  a  sword,  and  then 
handed  the  weapon  to  their  daughters  with  a 
smile,  and  "It  does  not  hurt."  The  grand- 
daughter  of   a   man  one   hundred  and  three 


Women  139 

years  old  gave  him  milk  in  times  of  starva- 
tion in  the  caverns,  from  her  own  breast,  and, 
when  he  was  killed  before  her  eyes,  leaped 
off  a  rock  to  escape  the  ruffians. 

When  their  husbands  and  fathers  and 
friends  and  lovers  were  fighting,  the  women 
retired  to  the  caverns  on  the  mountain  heights 
to  pray.  The  victory  was  often  given  in 
answer  to  their  prayers.  But  once  these 
women  heard  their  friends  from  the  valley 
of  Cluson,  who  had  come  to  aid,  returning 
discouraged  from  the  battles,  say,  "  What  will 
you  do,  poor  women?  Your  husbands  are  all 
dead." 

Margaret,  the  sister  of  the  hero,  Janavel, 
received  a  shot  in  her  bosom  when  nursing 
her  infant,  and  was  killed  soon  after  by  a 
second  shot.  The  babe  was  found  three  days 
after,  alive,  in  her  stiffened  embrace.  She 
was  one  of  one  hundred  and  ninety-six  per- 
sons killed  in  their  retreats  in  the  mountain 
caverns  at  the  time  of  Pianezza's  invasion. 
The  bones  of  these  heroic  women  whitened 
"on  the  Alpine  mountains  cold,"  but  they 
wear  the  martyr's  crown  of  glory,  and  their 
stories  are  left  to  touch  every  noble  and 
sympathetic  heart. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

FRIENDS GENERAL    BECKWITH 

Many  persons  in  the  ranks  of  their  enemies 
were  struck  with  horror  at  the  persecutions 
suffered  by  the  Waldenses,  and  defended  their 
cause  with  such  earnestness  that  they  them- 
selves fell  under  the  ban  of  Rome.  A  doctor 
of  theology,  who  had  signed  many  of  the 
processes  which  condemned  the  so-called 
heretics  to  death,  declared,  "  before  God,  that 
he  had  no  peace  of  conscience  since,"  and  was 
driven  from  the  assembly,  and  pronounced 
"more  worthy  of  the  flames  than  many  who 
had  been  condemned  to  them." 

Cardinal  Sadoleto,  who  was  friendly  to 
the  French  Vaudois  living  near  his  posses- 
sions in  Provence,  was  called  to  Rome,  where 
he  died  shortly  after,  "quite  suddenly,  after 
receiving  the  sacrament."  The  Dukes  of 
Savoy,  although  all  Roman  Catholics,  except 
the  excellent  Margaret  of  France,  were  often 
reluctant  to  persecute  their  subjects  living  in 


Friends  —  General  Beckwith       141 

the  valleys.  To  the  disgrace  of  womanhood, 
two  women  of  the  House  of  Savoy  are  known 
to  have  persecuted  with  vigor,  —  Yolande  of 
France,  and  Cristina,  called  Madame  Royale, 
—  both  regents  during  the  minority  of  their 
sons.  It  is  recorded  of  Carlo  Emanuel,  in 
1 595,  that  he  received  the  inhabitants  of 
Luserna  in  Villar,  and  in  answer  to  their 
expressions  of  fidelity  said,  "Be  faithful  to 
me,  and  I  will  be  a  good  prince  and  father  to 
you,  and  as  to  your  liberty  of  conscience  and 
the  exercise  of  your  religion,  I  will  do  noth- 
ing against  them.  If  any  one  disturbs  you 
come  to  me  and  I  will  protect  you." 

Victor  Amedeus  II.,  in  the  next  century, 
after  being  forced  by  the  Pope  and  the  King 
of  France  to  persecute  them,  visited  their 
desolate  land,  and  comforted  them  with  kind 
promises.  The  scene  is  famous  in  which  he 
took  the  gold  chain  from  his  neck  to  divide 
among  the  starving  peasants  of  the  valleys. 
The  sympathy  of  the  people  of  Switzerland 
was  shown  by  acts  of  abounding  generosity. 
Geneva  is  a  name  that  to  this  day  wakes  a 
thrill  of  grateful  emotion  in  the  heart  of  a 
Waldensian.  Cromwell  was  moved  to  the 
depths  of  his  strong  heart  by  the  news  of  the 
massacre  of  1655.     Reordered  a  general  fast, 


142  The  Italian  Waldenses 

gave  two  thousand  pounds  for  the  survivors, 
and  wrote  letters  of  remonstrance  to  the  Duke 
of  Savoy  and  to  Louis  XIV.  The  English 
Ambassador,  Sir  Samuel  Morland,  who  had 
received  the  horrible  details  from  Leger,  one 
of  the  persecuted,  addressed  the  young  Duke 
in  Latin,  his  bigoted  mother  being  present. 
Horrified  by  the  accounts  he  had  heard, 
Morland  relates  them  all  in  the  very  court  of 
the  Duke.  His  blood  boils  with  indignation, 
and  he  says,  "  The  angels  are  surprised  with 
horror!  Heaven  itself  seems  to  be  astonished 
at  the  cries  of  dying  men,  and  the  very  earth 
to  blush  with  the  blood  of  so  many  innocent 
persons."  He  then  delivered  a  letter,  also 
in  Latin,  composed  by  Milton,  from  Oliver 
Cromwell  to  the  Duke,  interceding  for  the 
Waldenses.  Cromwell  threatened  the  Pope 
to  appear  with  English  ships  at  the  port  of 
Civita  Vecchia,  near  Rome,  if  the  massacres 
were  continued. 

The  famous  sonnet  of  John  Milton  — 

"Avenge,  O  Lord,  thy  slaughtered  saints,  whose  bones 
Lie  whitening  on  the  Alpine  mountains  cold  " 

was  written  at  this  time.  The  Elector  of 
Saxony  also  remonstrated  with  another  Duke 
of  Savoy  for  these  cruelties  practised  on  the 


Friends — General   Beckwith       143 

men  of  the  valleys  of  Italy.  "  Let  your  High- 
ness know  that  there  is  a  God  in  Heaven  from 
whom  nothing  is  hid.  Let  your  Highness 
take  care  not  voluntarily  to  make  war  upon 
God,  and  not  to  persecute  Christ  in  the  per- 
son of  his  members.  The  ashes  of  the  martyrs 
are  the  seed  of  the  Church.  The  Christian 
religion  was  established  by  persuasion,  not 
by  violence."  The  "Glorious  Return,"  in 
1689,  signalized  the  end  of  bloody  persecu- 
tion, but  not  of  oppression  and  disabilities  for 
the  Waldenses.  They  lived  over  a  hundred 
years,  shut  up  in  the  valleys  in  poverty  and 
ignorance,  their  ancient  faith  almost  forgotten. 
Still  the  race  was  kept  entire  by  the  edicts  of 
1698  and  1730,  which  banished  all  persons  of 
foreign  birth,  and  by  the  interdiction  of  mixed 
marriages.  In  the  year  1825  a  religious  re- 
vival began  to  prepare  the  way  for  that  exodus 
which  took  place  in  1848.  A  young  French 
officer  of  artillery,  named  Felix  Neff,  dedi- 
cated himself  to  evangelization,  first  in  the 
high  Alps  of  Dauphiny,  and  afterwards  in  the 
Piedmontese  Alps.  But  the  work  was  diffi- 
cult, as  he  said  that  the  inhabitants  had 
degenerated  morally  as  well  as  physically. 
Many  of  the  Waldenses,  without  having  openly 
changed  their  religion,  were  farther  from  the 


144  The  Italian  Waldenses 

faith  of  their  fathers  than  if  they  had  become 
Roman  Catholics. 

The  sublime  and  terrible  aspect  of  the 
French  Alps,  which  served  as  a  refuge  for 
the  truth  when  nearly  all  the  rest  of  the  world 
lay  in  darkness,  —  the  deep  caverns  where  the 
Protestants  met  in  secret  to  read  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  and  adore  the  Eternal  One  in 
spirit  and  in  truth,  impressed  the  soul  of  this 
Evangelist.  The  year  after,  when  he  visited 
the  Italian  Alps,  he  was  equally  impressed 
with  the  natural  scenery.  "The  beauty  of 
the  vegetation  in  these  valleys  contrasts  with 
the  aridity  of  the  French  Alps.  The  view  of 
these  rocks  and  glaciers,  the  rich  valleys 
stretching  away  beneath  your  feet,  and  in  the 
distance  the  vast  plains  of  Italy,  lift  the 
thoughts  to  the  Eternal  Creator."  The 
spiritual  character  of  Felix  Neff  influenced 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Italian  valleys.  Prayer 
meetings  were  held,  and  Christian  zeal  awoke 
that  showed  itself  in  good  works. 

This  awakening  at  home  produced  new 
interest  abroad  in  the  children  of  the  martyrs. 
The  Ambassador  of  Prussia  collected  money 
from  the  Czar,  Alexander  I.  of  Russia;  from 
the  Protestants  in  Rome,  Turin,  Genoa;  in 
Holland,  England,   Prussia,  Switzerland,  the 


Friends — General   Beckwith       145 

Low  Countries,  and  the  United  States,  to  build 
a  hospital  at  La  Torre.  The  hearts  of  the 
long-persecuted  and  neglected  Waldenses  over- 
flowed with  tenderness. 

"This  is  the  Lord's  doing,  and  it  is  mar- 
vellous in  our  eyes,"  they  said.  "How  many 
reasons  we  have  to  bless  the  Lord  and  to 
redouble  our  efforts  to  merit  such  kindness." 
A  few  years  later  another  hospital  was  founded 
in  Val  San  Martino.  Another  friend  came 
to  Italy  in  1823, — the  Rev.  Dr.  Gilly  of 
England,  —  whose  book,  "  Narrative  of  an 
excursion  to  the  mountains  of  Piedmont  and 
researches  among  the  Waldenses,  —  Protes- 
tant inhabitants  of  the  Cottian  Alps,"  aroused 
widespread  interest  in  the  subject,  and  in- 
spired one  generous  heart  to  give  five  thou- 
sand pounds  sterling  for  the  establishment  of 
Trinity  College  at  La  Torre.  The  reading 
of  this  book  also  procured  for  the  Waldenses 
the  most  generous,  the  most  enlightened,  and 
the  most  persevering  of  all  their  benefactors, 
General  Charles  Beckwith,  whose  benefits  to 
the  ancient  Church  of  the  Waldenses  can 
scarcely  be  exaggerated.  It  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  find  another  example  of  a  rich  and 
cultured  gentleman,  in  high  position,  who  has 
left  his  country  to  live  with  a  poor  and  rough 
10 


146  The  Italian  Waldenses 

population  of  Alpine  peasantry,  and  for  nearly- 
one  quarter  of  a  century  spent  almost  all  of 
his  income,  his  time,  strength,  and  talents 
for  their  material  and  spiritual  good.  A  can- 
non ball  at  the  battle  of  Waterloo  took  off 
the  leg  of  Beckwith,  who  was  then  an  aide- 
de-camp  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  and  con- 
strained him  to  retire  from  active  service  at 
the  age  of  twenty-six.  The  courage  and 
energy  which  had  made  him  conspicuous  in 
the  army  were  thenceforth  all  directed  to  the 
aid  of  the  small,  lifeless  Church  which,  for  the 
sake  of  the  fathers,  God  meant  to  revive. 

"Beckwith  possessed  all  the  best  qualities 
to  command  an  army :  promptness  in  devising 
plans;  coolness  in  danger;  talent  for  organi- 
zation and  indomitable  courage."  But  the 
French  ball  at  Waterloo  cut  off  all  his  high 
hopes  of  glory,  and  he  was  led  to  the  Wald- 
ensian  valleys.  "I  was  transported,"  he  said, 
"  by  the  love  of  glory,  but  the  good  God  said 
to  me,  '  Halt ! '  and  cut  my  leg  off,  and  I 
think  I  am  much  happier  for  it." 

Since  the  emancipation  of  the  Waldenses, 
many  friends  in  Scotland,  England,  and  other 
Protestant  countries  have  aided  their  missions 
in  Italy  by  sympathy  and  contributions.  But 
none  have  collected  as   large  sums,  or  aided 


Friends — General   Beckwith       147 

as  much  in  many  ways  as  the  Rev.  Robert 
Stewart,  of  Scotland,  but  who  lived  over  thirty 
years  in  Italy.  A  mural  tablet  in  his  honor, 
with  an  appropriate  inscription,  is  placed  in 
the  entrance  of  the  Waldensian  Church,  107 
Via  Nazionale,  in  Rome. 


CHAPTER   XIX 

EMANCIPATION    IN    1 848 

The  hour  of  liberation  from  the  woes  of 
centuries  at  last  arrived.  The  religious 
awakening  in  the  valleys,  fostered  by  General 
Beckwith,  prepared  the  way  for  the  emanci- 
pation from  all  their  disabilities  granted  by 
Charles  Albert  of  the  House  of  Savoy.  Long 
before  the  European  revolutions  of  1848  this 
noble-hearted  king  had  begun  to  loose  the 
fetters  of  his  subjects.  He  softened  the  rigor 
of  ancient  edicts  by  special  decrees,  and  in 
February,  1848,  granted  a  liberal  constitu- 
tion, and  emancipated  the  Waldenses.  As 
Grand  Master  of  the  order  of  Saints  Maurice 
and  Lazarus,  Charles  Albert,  in  1844,  went 
to  La  Torre  to  assist  at  the  dedication  of  a 
Roman  Catholic  church  in  honor  of  those 
saints.  Although  this  seemed  an  unfortunate 
event,  the  benevolence  of  the  sovereign  and 
the  fidelity  of  the  inhabitants  of  La  Torre 
made  it  the  seal  of  affection  and  friendship 


Emancipation  in  1848  149 

between  them.  The  King  sent  back  the 
troops  that  were  ready  to  accompany  him 
and  were  to  be  lodged  at  La  Torre,  saying, 
"  I  have  no  need  of  a  guard  among  the  Wald- 
enses."  He  then  accepted  the  proposal  of 
the  Marquis  of  Luserna  and  the  Marquis  of 
Angrogna  to  be  received  by  the  militia  of  the 
valleys.  In  silence  he  passed  through  their 
ranks  to  the  new  church  at  the  entrance  of 
the  town,  and  on  his  return  was  greeted  by 
cries  of  joy  and  welcome  from  all  the  popu- 
lation. Moved  by  this  cordial  reception,  the 
King,  from  the  door  of  a  palace  at  Luserna, 
reviewed  all  the  Vaudois  companies,  saluted 
every  banner  of  the  different  towns,  and 
smiled  when  an  enthusiastic  color-bearer,  not 
content  with  saluting  the  flag,  also  took  off 
his  cap.  He  received  the  Tavola,  or  Board 
of  the  Pastors,  with  distinguished  honor,  and 
left  a  gift  for  the  poor.  On  his  way  back  to 
Turin  he  saw  bonfires,  like  a  circle  of  fire, 
burning  on  the  topmost  peaks  of  the  moun- 
tains, in  token  of  the  joy  his  visit  had  caused. 
"I  shall  never  forget,"  said  Charles  Albert, 
"  these  tokens  of  affection,  for  they  have  shown 
in  the  hearts  of  these  Waldenses  the  same 
devotion  to  the  throne  of  Savoy  which  dis- 
tinguished their  ancestors."     He  erected  at 


150  The  Italian  Waldenses 

the  entrance  of  La  Torre,  in  memory  of  this 
visit,  a  small  fountain,  with  the  inscription, 
"The  King  Charles  Albert  to  the  people 
who  welcomed  him  with  so  much  affection 
in  1844." 

The  decoration  of  the  order  of  Saints 
Maurice  and  Lazarus  was  afterwards  sent  to 
General  Beckwith,  —  the  man  who  had  been 
called  by  a  Roman  Catholic  bishop  the 
"wooden-legged  adventurer,"  and  had  been 
in  danger  several  times  of  being  expelled 
from  the  country  on  account  of  his  efforts  to 
educate  the  population.  The  darkness  of 
the  night  of  centuries  gradually  disappeared 
before  the  light.  In  1847  Marquis  Robert 
D'Azeglio  headed  a  petition  signed  by  six 
hundred  other  persons  —  professors,  lawyers, 
doctors,  notaries,  artists,  and  even  priests  — 
for  the  civil  and  religious  emancipation  of  the 
Waldenses  and  of  the  Jews.  Public  opinion 
in  Piedmont  was  favorable  to  this  progress  of 
liberty.  At  a  patriotic  banquet  given  in 
Pinerolo,  a  lawyer  said,  "  On  these  moun- 
tains live  twenty  thousand  of  our  brothers, 
who  are  deprived  of  the  rights  of  citizenship, 
and  yet  they  are  as  educated,  as  industrious, 
as  strong  in  arm  and  in  heart  as  any  other 
Italians.      It    is   our   duty,    as    their   nearest 


Emancipation  in  1848  151 

neighbors,  to  lift  our  voices  in  their  favor, 
and  cry,  *  Viva  the  Emancipation  of  the 
Waldenses. '  "  A  similar  banquet  was  soon 
after  held  at  Turin,  when  all  present  joined 
in  this  cry  of  liberty  and  fraternity. 

The  Statute,  or  constitutional  charter,  was 
granted  by  Charles  Albert  on  the  8th  of 
February,  1848.  But  although  the  Waldenses 
participated  in  the  general  enthusiasm,  they 
were  as  yet  only  tolerated,  the  ancient  edicts 
against  them  being  still  in  force.  Eight  days 
after,  towards  evening,  when  it  was  known 
that  the  decree  of  their  emancipation  was 
signed,  thousands  of  the  people  of  Turin 
gathered  under  the  windows  of  Pastor  Bert's 
house,  and  sang  there  a  patriotic  hymn,  con- 
tinuing these  demonstrations  of  sympathy  far 
into  the  night.  The  edict,  which  noted  "the 
fidelity  and  good  sentiments  of  the  Wald- 
ensian  population,"  granted  them  "all  the 
civil  and  political  rights  of  other  subjects, 
with  liberty  to  frequent  the  schools  and  uni- 
versities, and  to  take  all  academic  honors." 
Their  religion  and  their  private  schools  were 
ordered  to  be  respected,  notwithstanding  any 
previous  law  against  them.  This  edict  created 
great  joy  as  soon  as  it  was  known  in  the 
valleys.     At  La  Torre  there  was  a  general 


152  The  Italian  Waldenses 

illumination  in  the  evening;  and  next  day, 
called  by  the  beating  of  the  drums,  nearly  all 
the  people  gathered,  every  company  with  its 
banner,  in  and  about  the  temple  where  Pastor 
Meille  celebrated  divine  service.  The  hymns 
of  joy  sung  in  chorus,  the  solemn  gratitude 
of  the  people,  the  banners  gathered  in  the 
church,  proved  it  a  memorable  occasion. 
All  day  long,  companies  of  the  national  guard 
marched  through  the  town  singing  patriotic 
songs  like  — 

"  Con  P  azzura  cocarda  sul  petto, 
Con  Italici  palpiti  in  cuore," 

and  crying,  "Viva  1' Italia,"  "Viva  la  Co- 
stituzione,"  "Viva  Carlo  Alberto." 

Messengers  were  sent  to  all  the  mountain 
towns  and  hamlets,  and  that  night  more  than 
one  hundred  fires  on  the  heights  were  counted 
from  La  Torre.  At  Pinerolo,  that  centre  of 
papal  intolerance,  from  which,  during  many 
centuries,  bands  of  priests  and  friars  and 
persecutors  of  every  sort  had  often  gone  out 
to  La  Torre,  eight  miles  away,  not  only  the 
few  Waldenses  who  lived  there,  but  all  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  population  illuminated  their 
houses  for  joy  that  a  new  era  of  peace  and 
brotherly  love  had  come.     At  San  Giovanni 


Emancipation  in  1848  153 

the  prior  not  only  illuminated  his  house,  but 
had  the  chimes  in  the  belfry  ring  the  most 
lively  melodies.  The  national  guards  went 
out  in  the  country  near  San  Giovanni  to  bear 
the  glad  tidings  to  Joshua  Meille,  the  vener- 
able senior  of  the  pastors.  This  good  old 
white-haired  man  went  weeping  from  one  to 
the  other,  embracing  all  the  young  men,  and 
saying,  "Viva  la  fratellanza."  But  all  this 
was  nothing  to  the  celebration  at  Turin  on 
Feb.  28.  The  deputation  from  the  valleys 
set  out  the  day  before,  and  was  greeted  all 
along  the  thirty  miles  of  the  journey  by  cries 
of  "Long  live  our  Waldensian  brothers  and 
liberty  of  conscience."  By  the  time  they 
reached  Turin  their  number  had  increased  to 
several  hundreds,  all  of  whom  were  joyfully 
received  and  lodged  by  the  Turinese.  Some 
merchants  even  converted  their  stores  into 
dormitories  for  them.  Early  next  morning  the 
deputation  of  six  hundred,  preceded  by  twelve 
young  Waldensian  girls,  dressed  in  white, 
with  blue  sashes,  and  bearing  small  Italian 
flags  in  their  hands,  met  to  take  part  in  the 
procession.  They  had  a  magnificent  velvet 
standard,  with  the  royal  arms  embroidered 
in  silver,  and  the  simple  inscription,  "The 
grateful  Waldenses  to  Charles  Albert." 


«54 


The  Italian  Waldenses 


Oppressed  and  persecuted  as  they  had  been, 
they  expected  only  to  follow  at  the  end  of  that 
interminable  procession,  where  thirty  thou- 
sand flags  bent  before  Charles  Albert.  But 
the  Turinese  made  them  go  first.  "  You  have 
so  long  been  the  last,"  they  said,  "now  you 
shall  go  first " ;  and  the  flowers  thrown  from 
the  balconies  fell  first  on  the  white  and  blue 
robed  girls,  children  of  the  martyrs. 

The  delegates  were  embraced  with  tears; 
their  hands  were  pressed  by  strangers,  and 
even  priests  threw  their  arms  about  them  as 
they  walked  in  the  procession.  Liberty  and 
Brotherly  Love  were  the  watchwords  of  that 
day.  It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  affec- 
tion and  enthusiasm  of  the  time,  as  if  the 
Turinese  would  make  amends  for  all  the 
sins  of  their  ancestors  and  of  the  papal 
Church. 

"Dear  brother,"  said  an  eye-witness,  "who 
would  have  thought  that  we  should  ever  see 
such  wonders  ?  Who  would  have  said  that  on 
that  same  square  of  the  Castle,  where  once 
arose  so  many  funeral  piles  for  our  martyrs, 
where  crowds  drew  near  to  view  their  suffer- 
ings, a  similar  throng  should  welcome  us  with 
such  heartfelt  cries  of  love  and  brotherhood  ? 
Oh!  it  is  God  who  has  done  this.     To  Him 


Emancipation  in  1848  155 

be  glory  and  thanks.     May  He  ever  bless  our 
beautiful  country." 

From  that  memorable  day  the  Waldenses, 
no  longer  shut  up  in  their  valleys,  have  had 
full  liberty  in  Italy  to  teach  the  Gospel  of 
truth,  which  preserved  them  from  destruction 
amid  so  many  and  great  perils  and  sorrows. 
They  carried  with  them  the  Bible,  which  had 
been  their  light  through  all,  that  sacred  Book 
which  their  ancestors,  in  1535,  ten  years  after 
the  Reformation,  gave  a  large  sum  from  their 
slender  purses  to  have  translated  into  French 
by  Olivetan,  a  kinsman  of  Calvin.  On  the 
first  page  of  this  edition  are  the  lines,  "The 
Waldenses,  an  Evangelical  people,  have  made 
this  treasure  public,"  and  the  frontispiece 
is  — "The  Bible,  which  is  all  the  Holy 
Scripture,  containing  the  Old  Testament  and 
the  New,  translated  into  French,  the  Old 
from  the  Hebrew  and  the  New  from  the 
Greek.  God  is  All.  Listen  ye  Heavens, 
and  thou,  Earth,  lend  thine  ear,  for  the 
Eternal  speaketh." 


CHAPTER   XX 

A.  D.     1889  —  BI-CENTENARY    OF    "  GLORIOUS 
RETURN  " 

The  Bi-centenary  of  the  "Glorious  Return," 
celebrated  by  the  Waldenses  in  the  year  1889, 
was  an  event  that  called  the  attention  of  all 
Italy.  The  valleys,  where  for  three  years, 
from  1686  to  1689,  no  Bible  was  read,  no 
psalm  sung,  no  prayer  of  their  pure  faith 
raised  to  God,  rang  with  joyful  hymns  of 
praise.  Pastors  from  every  part  of  Italy  met 
at  the  Synod  held  at  Torre  Pellice,  the  capital 
of  the  valleys.  There  also  came  represen- 
tatives of  the  Huguenots  of  England  and 
America,  of  the  Moravians,  and  of  the 
Evangelical  churches  of  France,  Sweden, 
Holland,  and  Austria.  A  monument  in 
memory  of  the  departure  for  their  valleys  in 
Piedmont  of  Arnaud's  nine  hundred  heroes 
was  dedicated  at  Prangins,  on  Lake  Leman. 
The  inscription  on  it  is  this :  "  After  three 
years  of  sojourn  in  this  hospitable  land,  the 


SIEGE    OF    BALSIGLIA. 
From  an  old  print. 


Bi-centenary  of  "Glorious  Return"     157 

Waldenses  of  Piedmont  started  from  this  spot 
to  return  to  their  own  land,  Aug.  16,  1689. 
The  children  of  those  heroes  have  erected 
this  monument  Aug.  16,  1889."  The  morn- 
ing ceremonies  were  followed  by  a  banquet, 
when  the  Italian  Consul  to  Switzerland  com- 
pared this  heroic  deed  to  the  struggle  of  the 
Italian  nation  for  liberty,  from  the  defeat  of 
Novara  to  the  breach  of  Porta  Pia  at  Rome. 
With  great  applause  was  sent  to  King  Humbert 
a  telegram  expressing  the  devotion  of  these 
descendants  of  the  persecuted  Waldenses  to 
the  liberal  sovereign  and  faithful  keeper  of 
the  promises  made  to  their  forefathers. 

Towards  evening  a  small  company  of  coura- 
geous youths  embarked  on  the  placid  waters 
of  Lake  Leman,  at  Nyon,  the  narrowest 
crossing,  to  follow  for  ten  days,  over  the  high 
mountains  of  Savoy,  the  path  taken  by  their 
ancestors  in  far  more  difficult  circumstances. 
On  Aug.  27,  three  thousand  people  gathered 
on  the  mountain  of  Balsiglia,  in  the  valley  of 
San  Martino,  where,  two  hundred  years  before, 
the  fugitives  arrived,  and  were  besieged  for 
six  months  by  the  army  of  their  enemies,  the 
French,  escaping  only  miraculously,  under 
cover  of  a  fog,  by  creeping  along  the  narrow 
ledge  of  a  precipice.     On  Sept.  1  there  was 


158  The  Italian  Waldenses 

another  reunion  at  Sibaud,  where,  Sept.  1, 
1689,  the  returned  exiles  swore  to  combat  the 
Babylonian  woe.  In  the  year  1694  the  edict 
of  restoration  of  the  Waldenses  to  their  homes 
in  the  valleys,  to  freedom  from  bloody  perse- 
cutions, and  to  liberty  of  conscience,  called 
forth  a  fiery  protest  from  Pope  Innocent  XII. 
But  the  Senate  of  Turin  prohibited  the  pub- 
lication of  this  bull,  and  thus  gave  their  first 
resolute  resistance  to  the  papal  power  over  the 
Waldenses.  Thus  was  inaugurated  the  era  of 
liberty  of  conscience,  and  this  faithful  people 
began  at  last  to  enjoy  the  longed-for  rest  from 
persecution.  When  will  the  other  inhabitants 
of  Italy  understand  that  because  they  trusted 
in  God  they  were  delivered,  and  learn  the 
same  undoubting  faith  which  saved  them? 
Two  hundred  years  ago  these  valleys  were 
deserted,  and  the  few  heroes  who  came  back 
from  Switzerland  were  uncertain  whether  new 
exile  and  new  persecutions  awaited  them. 
What  a  contrast  to  the  liberty  now  enjoyed  by 
their  descendants  !  Benevolently  considered 
by  their  fellow-citizens  in  the  Italian  pen- 
insula; the  bi-centenary  of  the  "Glorious 
Return"  treated  as  a  national  glory;  reduced 
railroad  fare  granted  them  in  their  journey  to 
the  valleys,  and  the  sympathy  of  the  successor 


WALDENSIAN    RESIDENCE    AND    MUSEUM. 


BADGES. 


Bi-centenary  of  "Glorious  Return"    159 

of  their  ancient  persecutors,  they  are  now  sat- 
isfied. King  Humbert  gave  also  a  contribu- 
tion of  five  thousand  francs  to  the  Waldensian 
House  and  College,  built  by  them  in  com- 
memoration of  the  bi-centenary.  He  has  also 
conferred  the  title  of  Commendatore  of  the 
Crown  of  Italy  on  two  pastors  —  Dr.  Lantaret, 
of  the  valleys,  now  deceased,  and  Dr.  Matteo 
Prochet,  President  of  the  Committee  of  Evan- 
gelization; and  of  Cavaliere  of  the  same  order 
on  several  others,  and  decorated  Dr.  Paolo 
Geymonat,  of  Florence,  with  the  title  of 
Cavaliere  of  the  Order  of  Saints  Maurice  and 
Lazarus.  An  eye-witness  thus  describes  two 
visits  of  King  Humbert  to  the  valleys : 

"  In  the  year  1892  there  was  to  be  a  sham 
fight  of  the  troops  in  the  Val  San  Martino, 
and  the  King  was  expected.  Thousands  of 
people  were  gathered  on  the  hills  and  in  the 
trees  to  witness  his  arrival,  and  a  pavilion 
was  erected  at  the  place  where  he  was  to  leave 
his  carriage.  First  on  the  line  to  receive  the 
King  were  one  or  two  members  of  Parliament, 
then  four  priests  and  fifteen  mayors,  and  at 
the  end  the  Moderator  of  the  Waldensian 
Church  and  the  President  of  the  Committee 
of  Evangelization,  the  programme  being  that 
these  were  the  last  to  be  introduced.     The 


160  The  Italian  Waldenses 

King  arrived,  alighted,  shook  hands  with  the 
deputies;  then,  perceiving  the  President  of 
the  Waldensian  Committee,  passed  before 
priests  and  mayors  without  noticing  them,  and 
marched  straight  to  him  with  outstretched 
hand,  exclaiming,  'I  am  among  friends.  How 
do  you  do,  Mr.  Prochet  ? '  So  the  first  were 
last  and  the  last  first.  The  delight  of  the 
thousands  of  Waldenses,  who  saw  their  pas- 
tors so  honored  by  their  beloved  sovereign, 
was  unbounded. 

"In  the  following  year,  1893,  the  Synod 
being  met  at  Torre  Pellice,  a  deputation  was 
sent  to  the  King  at  Pinerolo.  He  received 
them  in  the  most  cordial  manner,  and  in  answer 
to  the  invitation  to  visit  Torre  Pellice,  said 
that  he  was  not  sure  that  he  would  have  time 
for  it,  but  '  some  time,'  added  he,  with  a 
smile,   '  I  shall  come  to  see  you. ' 

"The  Synod  closed;  the  members  dispersed 
on  Friday,  and  the  following  day  the  King, 
without  warning  any  one,  gave  the  unex- 
pected order  to  his  coachman  to  drive  to  Torre 
Pellice.  Fortunately  some  one  overheard  the 
order  and  telegraphed  to  the  Moderator.  One 
hour  elapsed  between  the  departure  from 
Pinerolo  and  the  arrival  at  Torre  Pellice  of 
the  royal  carriage,  and  in  that  hour  four  thou- 


Bi-centenary  of  "Glorious  Return"     161 

sand  people  got  the  news,  dressed  in  haste, 
and  welcomed  the  King,  who,  alighting  at  the 
entrance  of  the  town,  walked  between  the 
Moderator  and  the  Mayor,  visiting  succes- 
sively the  Casa  Valdese,  the  church,  and  the 
hospital.  When  the  people  saw  the  King 
enter  the  church,  which  probably  no  prince 
of  the  house  of  Savoy  had  ever  done  before, 
their  enthusiasm  was  indescribable. 

"In  the  Casa  Valdese  the  King  read  the 
inscription  on  the  slab  of  marble,  telling 
with  grateful  words  of  his  gift,  and,  turning 
to  the  Moderator,  said,  '  Indeed,  I  did  not 
deserve  so  much.'  On  leaving  the  town  to 
return  "o  Pinerolo  he  shook  hands  once  more 
with  the  Moderator,  saying,  '  I  loved  your 
people  before,  but  now  I  shall  love  them  still 


INDEX 


Abraham,  37. 

Adelaide,  Countess,  of  Morienne, 
126. 

Adriatic,  the,  9. 

Aix,  Bishop  of,  persecutes  the 
Waldenses,  30. 

Albi,  the  town  of,  20. 

Albigenses,  the,  unite  with  the 
Waldenses,  18  ;  their  name  lost, 
18  ;  persecuted  by  Pope  Innocent 
III.,  19;  their  early  history,  20  ; 
various  names  of,  20 ;  origin  of 
their  name,  20;  their  numbers, 
21 ;  form  to  resist  the  tyranny 
of  Rome,  21  ;  their  writings  de- 
stroyed, 2i ;  accused  of  Mani- 
cheism,  21 ;  refuse  to  repent,  22 ; 
martyrdom  of,  22 ;  the  Pauli- 
cians  develop  into,  24 ;  pos- 
sessed Peter  Waldo's  translation 
of  the  Scriptures,  39  ;  contradic- 
tory accounts  given  of,  44. 

Alexander  I.,  Czar  of  Russia, 
gives  money  to  the  Waldenses, 
144. 

Alexandrini,  Cardinal,  the  chief 
Inquisitor,  99. 

Alpine  Church,  the,  59,  71. 

Alpine  valleys,  the,  6,  9. 

Alps,  the,  2  ;  guarded  by  the  Wal- 
denses against  the  inroads  of 
Louis  XIV.,  4. 


Alps  of  Dauphiny,  the,  143. 

Alps  of  France,  the,  Waldensian 

colony  in,  63  ;  exterminated,  63. 
Ambrose,  Bishop  of  Milan,  "  the 

Rock  of  the  Church,"  17. 
Amedeus  IX.,  Duke  of  Savoy,  63, 

130. 
Angrogna,  Lord  of,  132. 
Angrogna,  Marquis  of,  149. 
Angrogna,  the  mountains  of,  66, 

75,  104. 
Angrogna,  the  Synod  of,  124. 
Angrogna,  the  town  of,  51,  79  ;  the 

Waldenses  attacked  in,  81,  8y, 

121. 
Angrogna,  the  valley  of,  49  ;  synod 

held   in,    63;   invaded   by    the 

Inquisitors,  63,  74,  134. 
Antichrist,  the,  34. 
Aosta,  125. 
Apennines,  the,  94. 
"  Apostolicals,"     the,    see    Albi- 
genses. 
Appie,  Pastor,  of  Angrogna,  death 

of,  104. 
Apuglie,    Waldensian   colony  in, 

63 ;  exterminated,  63. 
Aquitaine,   8  ;  the  Albigenses  in, 

20. 
Aries,   Bishop  of,  persecutes  the 

Waldenses,  30. 
Armenia,  23,  39. 


r64 


Index 


Arnaud,  Col.  Henri,  the  hero  of 
the  Waldensian  return  from 
exile,  9;  on  the  origin  of  the 
Waldenses,  10;  leads  the  Wal- 
denses  in  their  glorious  return 
of  1689,  86,  87  ;  plans  to  de- 
liver the  Waldenses  out  of  Swit- 
zerland, 91,  114,  115,  156. 

Asia,  24. 

Avignon,  Bishop  of,  persecutes  the 
Waldenses,  30. 

Azeglio,  Marquis  Robert  d',  heads 
a  petition  for  the  emancipation 
of  the  Waldenses,  150. 

Bagnolese,  the,  53. 
Bagnolo,  the  Waldenses  at,  53. 
Balsiglia,  the  mountain  of,  157. 
Balsille,  the  town  of,  92 ;  the  siege 

of,  93- 

"Banished,"  the,  118. 

Barbes,  the  Waldensian,  5,  40 ; 
meaning  of  the  word,  55  ;  the 
writings  of,  56  ;  their  knowledge 
of  the  Bible,  57;  location  of 
their  school,  5  7  ;  their  support, 
57;  their  duties,  58;  their  lan- 
guage, 58;  their  annual  synod, 
59 ;  their  work,  60 ;  generally 
unmarried,  61 ;  as  martyrs,  61, 
62. 

Barbets,  55. 

Barcelona,  church  of,  8. 

Baronius,  Cesar,  laments  the  cor- 
ruption of  the  Roman  Church, 
61 ;  submits  to  the  Roman 
Church,  62. 

Barthelemi,  John,  105  ;  death  of, 
105. 

Bavaria,  the  Waldenses  at,  54. 

Beckwith,  General  Charles,  the 
most  generous  of  the  benefactors 
of  the  Waldenses,  145  ;  his  bene- 
fits to  the  Waldensian  Church, 
145 ;  his  life  among  the  Wal- 
denses, 145  ;  at  Waterloo,  146 ; 


estimate  of,  146 ;  decorated, 
150. 

Believers,  the,  21. 

Bergamo,  the  Waldenses  at,  53. 

Bernard,  Pastor,  of  Perosa,  death 
of,  104. 

Bernard,  Saint,  describes  the  Wal- 
denses, 43. 

Bersour,  Commissioner,  his  in- 
vasion against  the  Waldenses, 
132. 

Bersour,  Louis,  becomes  a  Protes- 
tant, 132. 

Bersour,  Paul,  132. 

Bert,  Pastor,  151. 

Bible,  the,  love  of  the  Waldenses 
for,  2;  Peter  Waldo  makes  a 
translation  of,  39;  Olivetan 
makes  a  French  translation  of, 

155- 

Blanche,  widow  of  the  Count  of 
Luserna,  sympathizes  with  the 
Waldenses,  132. 

Bobi,  the  town  of,  51 ;  the  Protes- 
tant temple  of,  72,  79,  131, 
132. 

Bohemia,  25. 

Bonjour,  Minister,  105. 

Borgo  d'  Oltramontani,  the  town 
of,  96. 

Botta,  the  historian,  on  Peter  the 
Waldo,  29. 

Bouillon,  Godfrey  of,  takes  Jeru- 
salem from  the  Saracens,  37. 

Boulle,  Valentine,  132. 

Brescia,  the  Waldenses  at,  53. 

Bricherasio,  the  town  of,  the  Wal- 
denses attacked  in,  81. 

Bruis,  Peter  de,  29. 

Bruneral,  Pastor  John,  of  Rora, 
death  of,  104. 

Brunet,  Monsieur,  106. 

Bulgaria,  24. 

Bulgarians,  the,  20. 

Busca,  Waldensian  colony  at,  53; 
destroyed,  53,  123,  124. 


Index 


165 


Calabria,  the  Waldenses  send  a 
colony  to,  53  ;  destroyed,  53,  63, 
94  ;  the  beginnings  of  the  colony, 
94 ;  John  Louis  Pascal  at,  98  ; 
the  attention  of  the  Roman  In- 
quisition called  to,  99  ;  the  peo- 
ple betrayed  and  killed,  100;  the 
colony  totally  exterminated,  101. 

Calvin,  John,  29. 

Cambridge,  34,  57. 

Campanula  Elatinus,  the  blue,  51. 

Carlo  Emanuel,  promises  to  pro- 
tect the  Waldenses,  141. 

Casa  Valdese,  the,  161. 

Castel  Sant'  Angelo,  the  square 
of,  at  Rome,  99. 

Castrocaro,  Governor,  placed  over 
the  Waldenses  by  Marguerite  of 
Valois,  135  ;  his  treachery,  135. 

Cathari,  the,  20. 

Catinat,  General,  marches  against 
the  Waldenses,  88. 

Cattanee,  Archdeacon  Albert,  tries 
to  convert  the  Waldenses,  65  ; 
sends  his  army  against  the  Wal- 
denses, 65  ;  meets  with  defeat, 
66,  67  ;  withdraws  his  army,  68. 

Cavour,  the  rock  of,  50,  77,  130. 

Celibacy  of  the  clergy,  the,  treatise 
written  by  Vigilantius  Leo  on,  8. 

Cenis,  Mount,  1,  48. 

Chalance,  the,  50. 

Champforans,  the  Synod  of,  61, 
70. 

Chanforan,  Pastor  Joseph,  death 
of,  104. 

Charlemagne,  13  ;  at  the  Council 
of  Frankfort,  16;  the  twelve 
counsellors  of,  37. 

Charles  I.  of  Piedmont  furnishes 
troops  against  the  Waldenses, 
64 ;  withdraws  his  troops,  69  ; 
makes  peace  with  the  Wal- 
denses, 69. 

Charles  Albert,  King  of  Sardinia, 
gives  a  charter  of  liberty  to  the 


Waldenses,  46,  151 ;  at  La 
Torre,  148-150;  gratitude  of 
the  Waldenses  to,  153. 

Charles  Emanuel  II.,  Duke  of 
Savoy,  79. 

Christ,  the  Jews  the  typical  ene- 
mies and  persecutors  of,  37. 

Christians,  the,  persecuted  by 
the  Jews  and  Saracens,  t>7  5  the 
Saracens  the  typical  enemies 
and  persecutors  of,  yj. 

Cisalpine  Gaul,  Vigilantius  retires 
from  persecution  to,  9. 

Civita  Vecchia,  the  port  of,  142. 

Claude,  Bishop,  enmity  of  Dungal 
to,  12  ;  early  life  of,  13  ;  his  ap- 
pointment as  Bishop  of  Turin, 
13;  his  work  in  Turin,  14;  his 
writings,  15  ;  his  opposition  to 
the  adoration  of  the  cross,  15  ; 
seals  his  faith  by  martyrdom,  16. 
See  also  Seyssel,  Claude. 

Clergy,  the  celibacy  of,  8. 

Cluson,  the  valley  of,  139. 

Coadjuteur,  the,  59. 

Col  du  Pis,  the,  52. 

Constance,  the  Council  of,  78. 

Constance,  Queen,  22. 

Constantine,  Emperor,  8. 

Constantine  Sylvanus,  founds  the 
Paulicians,  23 ;  ordered  to  be 
stoned,  23. 

Constantinople,  105. 

Cosenza,  98. 

Cottian  Alps,  the  valleys  of,  1 ;  the 
Waldenses  in,  12  ;  the  ancient 
church  of,  25  ;  principal  occu- 
pations of  the  inhabitants  of,  45. 

Cottius,  King,  9. 

Council  of  the  barbes,  the,  59. 

Cowrnaout,  the,  50. 

Cristina,  Maria,  persecutes  the 
Waldenses,  130,  141. 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  sympathy  shown 
for  the  Waldenses  by,  141  ;  in- 
tercedes for  the  Waldenses,  142. 


i66 


Index 


Crusaders,  the,  19. 
Cuneo,  Waldensian  colony  at,  53  ; 
destroyed,  53,  98. 

Dauphiny,  the  French  province 
of,  the  Albigenses  in,  20.  26, 
48 ;  the  Waldenses  attacked  in, 
68,  70,  105,  121. 

"  Digiunati,"  the,  11S. 

Dominic,  the  "blessed,"  canonized 
for  his  services,  19. 

Dominicans,  the,  30. 

Dungal,  his  enmity  to  Bishop 
Claudio,  12,  16  ;  his  references 
to  Vigilantius,  13. 

Emanuel  Philibert  of  Savoy, 
supplication  of  the  Waldenses 
to,  10 ;  grants  amnesty  to  the 
Waldenses,  77 ;  Marguerite  of 
Valois  the  wife  of,  133. 

England,  87;  contributes  money 
to  the  Waldenses,  144. 

Epistles,  the,  57. 

Erfurt,  27. 

Este,  Duchess  of,  see  Renee. 

Farel,  70,  121. 

Farine,  Cristine,  becomes  a  Pro- 
testant, 132. 

"Fasters,"  the,  119. 

Ferdinand  of  Aragon,  King  of 
Naples,  confirms  the  charter  for 
the  colony  at  Calabria,  96. 

Fleury,  the  Abbey  of,  15. 

Florence,  Waldensian  churches 
at,  1  ;  the  Waldenses  at,  53  ; 
theological  college  at,   102. 

Foix,  Marguerite  de,  persecutes 
the  Waldenses,  131. 

Foucald,  Bernard  de,  on  the  mis- 
sionary zeal  of  the  Waldenses, 
60. 

France,  20,  25. 

France,  King  of,  furnishes  troops 
against  the  Waldenses,  64. 


Francis  I.,  of  France,  confession 
presented  by  the  Waldenses  to, 
10. 

Francis  of  Assisi,  Saint,  imposi- 
tion of,  38. 

Franciscans,  the,  30. 

Frankfort,  the  Council  of,  sus- 
tains Bishop  Claude  in  his 
opposition  to  the  worship  of 
images,  16. 

French,  the,  attack  the  Waldenses, 
88. 

French  Alps,  the,  2,7,  i44« 

French  valleys,  the,  52. 

French  Vaudois,  the,  140. 

G abr  1  el  of  Savoy,  marches  against 

the  Waldenses,  88. 
Gascony,  the  Albigenses  in,  20. 
Gay,  Pastor  Barnabas,   death  of, 

104. 
Gay,  Pastor  James,  death  of,  104. 
Geneva,  3  ;  the  library  of,  57,  102, 

105,  120,  141. 
Genoa,   Waldensian  churches  at, 

1 ;  the  Waldenses  in,  54. 
Germanasca,  the  river,  49,  51. 
German  Reformation,  the,  2,    54, 

61 ;    revives    the   faith    of   the 

Waldenses,  70. 
German  Reformer,  the,  10 ;  their 

friendship  for   the  Waldenses, 

54. 

Germany,  25,  87. 

Geymonat,  Dr.  Paolo,  decorated 
by  King  Humbert,  159. 

Gilles,  Pierre,  the  historian  of  the 
Waldenses,  56  ;  on  the  writings 
of  the  barbes,  55  ;  on  the  confi- 
dence reposed  in  the  barbes,  jt,  ; 
warns  the  colonists  at  Calabria 
to  prepare  for  persecution,  98 ; 
at  Luserna,  105  ;  his  burdens, 
106  ;  his  "  History  of  the  Wal- 
denses," 108,  109;  escape  of, 
122;  on  the  touching  appeal  of 


Index 


167 


the  Alpine  pastors  to  Marguerite 
of  Valois,  133  ;  on  the  fidelity  of 
Octavia  Sollaro,  138. 

Gilles,  Samuel,  105. 

Gilly,  Rev.  Dr.,  of  England,  in- 
fluence of  his  writings  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Waldenses,  145. 

Girardet,  Catelan,  of  San  Gio- 
vanni, i2i  ;  martyrdom  of,  121. 

"  Glorious  Return  of  1689,"  the, 
86;  signalizes  the  end  of  the 
bloody  persecution  of  the  Wal- 
denses, 143 ;  the  Bi-centenary 
of,  1 56-161. 

Gnostic  theology,  23. 

"  Good  Men,"  the,  see  Albigcnses. 

Gregory  IX.,  Pope,  19. 

Grenoble,  121. 

Grisons,  the,  90. 

Gros,  Pastor  Augustus,  117,  118. 

Gros,  Pastor  Joseph,  of  Saint  John, 
death  of,  104. 

Gros,  Valere,  105,  106. 

Gonin,  Martin,  of  Angrogna,  ar- 
rested as  a  spy,  121  ;  ordered  to 
be  liberated,  121  ;  arrested  on 
the  charge  of  heresy,  121  ;  mar- 
tyrdom of,  121. 

Guarini,  Camilla,  affianced  to  John 
Louis  Pascal,  98 ;  Pascal's  let- 
ters to,  98  ;  her  heart  broken  by 
Pascal's  martyrdom,  135. 

Henricians,  the,  20. 

Henry  II.,  of  France,  133. 

Henry,  the  Italian,  29. 

Holland,  Sy  ;  contributes  money 
to  the  Waldenses,  144. 

Holy  See,  the,  64. 

Huguenots,  the,  156. 

Humbert,  King,  4 ;  the  Waldenses 
express  their  devotion  to,  157; 
his  friendship  for  the  Waldenses, 
159;  his  two  visits  to  the  Wal- 
densian  valleys,  1 59-161. 

"  Humiliated,"  the,  30,  38. 


Innocent  III.,  Pope,  persecutes 
the  Albigenses,  19;  condemns 
triclavianism,  38. 

Innocent  VIII.,  Pope,  issues  a 
bull  of  extermination  against  the 
Waldenses,  64,  123. 

Innocent  XII.,  Pope,  makes  a  fiery 
protest  against  the  Waldenses, 
158. 

Inquisition,  the,  35. 

Inquisitors,  the,  19 ;  their  oppres- 
sion of  the  Waldenses,  41  ;  ex- 
terminate the  Waldensian  colony 
in  Provence,  53  ;  invade  the 
valley  of  Angrogna,  63. 

Iser,  the  river,  121. 

Italian  Alps,  the,  144. 

Italian  language,  the,  57. 

Italy,  4. 


Jacob,  the  pastor,  martyrdom  of 
126. 

Jahier,  Captain,  in  ;  attacks  the 
town  of  San  Secondo,  113; 
death  of,  113. 

Jajuet,  Bernardin,  pastor  of  San 
Martino,  death  of,  104. 

Janavel,  Joshua,  the  hero,  83,  86 ; 
plans  to  lead  the  Waldenses  out 
of  Switzerland,  91,  114;  heroic 
acts  of,  in  ;  unites  with  Captain 
Jahier,  112  ;  attacks  the  town  of 
San  Secondo,  113;  wounded, 
113;  in  exile,  114. 

Janavel,  Margaret,  death  of,  139. 

Javel,  Pastor  David,  death  of, 
104. 

Jerome,  charges  brought  by  Vi- 
gilantius  Leo  against,  8 ;  his 
violent  answer,  9. 

Jerusalem,  S ;  taken  from  the  Sar- 
acens by  Godfrey  de  Bouillon, 

37- 
Jesuitism,  y8. 
Jesuits,  the,  84. 


i68 


Index 


Jews,  the,  persecute  the  Christians, 
27;  the  typical  enemies  and  per- 
secutors of  Christ,  27' 

John,  Saint,  the  prophecies  of,  33, 

57- 

Joli,  Pastor  Laurens,  death  of, 
104. 

Jonas  of  Orleans,  on  Bishop 
Claude's  opposition  to  the  adora- 
tion of  the  cross,  15. 

Julius  II.,  Pope,  131. 

"  La  Barca,"  a  Waldensian  poem, 

36. 

La  Chapelle,  the  town  of,  52. 

La  Guardia,  the  town  of,  97 ;  the 
Waldenses  massacred  at,  100. 

Languedoc,  the  Albigenses  in,  20. 

Lantaret,  Dr.,  159. 

Latin  language,  the,  57. 

La  Torre,  104 ;  invaded  by  the 
pestilence,  107,  108  ;  hospital  at, 
145  ;  Trinity  College  established 
at,  145  ;  Charles  Albert  at,  14S- 
150;  rejoicing  over  the  emanci- 
pation of  the  Waldenses  at, 
152. 

La  Tour,  the  capital  of  Luserna, 

51- 

Lausanne,  122,  125. 

Lazarus,  Saint,  148. 

Leger,  Pastor  Anthony,  on  the 
Waldenses,  44,  57;  on  the  mas- 
sacre of  the  Waldenses  in  1655, 
83 ;  recalled  from  Constanti- 
nople, 105 ;  on  Jahier's  zeal, 
114,  142. 

Leman,   Lake,    54,  92,  114,    156, 

157. 

Leo,  the  reputed  founder  of  the 
Waldenses,  7  ;  discredited  by  the 
Waldenses,  8.  See  also  Vigi- 
lantius  Leo. 

"  Leonists,"  the,  7  ;  the  "  most 
pernicious  sect  of  ancient  here- 
tics," 7.     See  also  Waldenses. 


Leonora,  wife  of  Valentine  Boulle, 
132. 

Le  Puglie,  the  town  of,  97. 

Lombardy,  the  plain  of,  53. 

Louis  XL,  of  France,  130. 

Louis  XII. ,  of  France,  tribute  to 
the  Vaudois  of,  44. 

Louis  XIV.,  of  France,  urges  Vic- 
tor Amedeus  to  persecute  the 
Waldenses,  3 ;  the  Waldenses 
guard  the  Alps  against  the  in- 
roads, of,  4  ;  becomes  the  cham- 
pion of  the  Papacy,  86  ;  revokes 
the  Edict  of  Nantes,  86;  thinks 
the  Waldenses  are  exterminated, 
89  ;  Cromwell  remonstrates  with, 
142. 

Louis  the  Meek,  13. 

Louis  the  Pious,  13. 

Low  Countries,  the,  106;  contri- 
bute money  to  the  Waldenses, 
145. 

Lucifer,  21 ;  the  Waldenses  ac- 
cused of  worshipping,  40. 

Lucius  II.,  Pope,  condemns  the 
Waldenses,  60. 

Luserna,  Count  of,  132. 

Luserna,  the  Countesses  of,  use 
their  influence  to  protect  the 
Waldenses,  133. 

Luserna,  Marquis  of,  149. 

Luserna,  the  valley  of,  49,  50;  the 
towns  of,  51 ;  the  Waldenses  in, 
54;  the  barbes  of,  71 ;  the  Wal- 
denses massacred  in,  84 ;  the 
pest  in,  103,  117,  121,  122,  128, 

i3°>  I31.  *34- 

Luther,  Martin,  the  sudden  relig- 
ious impression  received  by,  27. 

Lyons,  the  Archbishop  of,  perse- 
cutes Peter  the  Waldo,  29. 

Lyons,  8,  25. 

Magdeburg,  90. 

Magi,   the,    at  the   cradle   of  the 

Saviour,  t,7- 


Index 


169 


Manicheans,  the,  20. 

Manicheism,  the  Albigenses  ac- 
cused of,  21 ;  definition  of,  21. 

Man  of  Sin,  the,  34. 

Mantua,  the  Waldenses  at,  53. 

Margaret,  Duchess  of  Savoy,  gains 
clemency  for  the  Waldenses,  yy. 

Margaret  of  Navarre,  133. 

Margaret,  Queen,  4. 

Marguerite  of  Valois,  her  friend- 
ship for  the  Waldenses,  133  ; 
touching  appeal  of  the  Alpine 
pastors  to,  133 ;  Pastor  Noel 
sent  to  obtain  the  intercession 
of,  134 ;  deceived  by  Governor 
Castrocaro,  135. 

Mariolatry,  the  doctrines  of,  35. 

Marseilles,  the  galleys  at,  88. 

Martel,  Charles,  conquers  the 
Saracens,  37. 

Martin,  Henri,  on  the  Waldenses, 

45- 
Mathias,  the  valley  of,  52. 
Mathurin,  Jeanne,  of  Carignano, 

martyrdom  of,  136,  137. 
Maurice,  Saint,  148. 
Mazarin,  131. 
Meane,  the  valley  of,  52. 
Meille,  Pastor  Joshua,  152,  153. 
Messina,     Waldensian      churches 

at,  1. 
Michelin  of  Bobi,  84. 
Milan,  Waldensian    churches   at, 

1,  123. 
Milton,  John,  142. 
Minerva,  the  convent  of,  99. 
Minor  friars,  the,  30. 
Mission      churches,    Waldensian, 

money  needed  for,  5. 
Monasticism,  sanctity  of,  8. 
Mondovi,  Noir  de,  leads  the  troops 

against  the  Waldenses,  66 ;  his 

death,  67. 
Monks,  the,  55. 
Montalto,  100. 
Montfort,  Simon  de,  19. 


Moravians,  the,  156. 

Morienne,  126. 

Morland,  Sir  Samuel,  34 ;  his  in- 
dignation at  the  persecution  of 
the  Waldenses,  142. 

Moslem,  invasion,  the,  16. 

Mountaineers,  the,  53. 

Muston,  Alexis,  on  the  Waldenses, 
45  ;  on  the  Vatican,  47 ;  Rome 
the  cause  of  the  Waldensian 
persecution,  79;  on  the  change 
in  the  Waldensian  language, 
109. 

Nantes,  the  Edict  of,  revoked  by 
Louis  XIV.,  86. 

Naples,  Waldensian  churches  at, 
1,  101,  123. 

Naples,  King  of,  see  Ferdinand  of 
Aragon. 

Naples,  Prince  of,  4. 

Napoleon  I.,  93. 

Neff,  Felix,  dedicates  himself  to 
evangelization,  143  ;  spiritual 
character  of,  144. 

Negrin,  Stephen,  the  martyrdom 
of,  99. 

"  Noble  Lesson,"  the,  6 ;  the  most 
ancient  document  of  the  Wal- 
denses, 32 ;  the  spirit  of,  32 ; 
the  subject  of,  32  ;  doubt  thrown 
on  the  antiquity  of,  34 ;  attri- 
buted to  Peter  Waldo,  34 ; 
proof  of  the  antiquity  of,  36, 
38 ;  on  the  contradictory  ac- 
counts given  of  the  Vaudois,  44. 

Noel,  Pastor,  escape  of,  122  ;  sent 
to  obtain  the  intercession  of 
Marguerite  of  Valois,  134. 

Novara,  the  defeat  of,  157. 

Nyon,  157. 

Olivetan,  translates    the   Bible 

into  French,  155. 
Order  of  Saint  Francis  of  Assisi, 

the,  83. 


170 


Index 


Order    of    Saints    Maurice    and 

Lazarus,  the,  148,  159. 
Origen,  the  opinions  of,  8. 
Orleans,  15,  33. 

Palatinate,  the,  90. 

Palermo,  Waldensian  churches 
at,  1. 

Papacy,  the,  believed  by  the 
Waldenses  to  be  the  predicted 
Anti-Christ,  33;  Louis  XIV. 
becomes  the  champion  of,  86. 

Papists,  the,  destroy  Waldensian 
literature,  57  ;  massacre  the 
Waldenses  at  Torre  Pellice,  80. 

Paris,  124. 

Paris,  the  Council  of,  sustains 
Bishop  Claude  in  his  opposi- 
tion to  the  worship  of  images,  16. 

Pascal,  John  Louis,  burned  at 
Rome,  53,  61 ;  sent  to  Calabria, 
98  ;  affianced  to  Camilla  Gua- 
rini,  98;  his  letters  to  her,  98; 
his  zeal  and  courage,  99  ;  his 
imprisonment,  99;  his  martyr- 
dom, 99,  136. 

Pastors,  the  Waldensian,  5. 

Paterines,  the,  20. 

Paulicians,  the,  20;  converts  from 
Manicheism,  23 ;  founded  by 
Constantine  Sylvanus,  23 ;  the 
principles  of,  23  ;  emigration  of, 
24 ;  develop  into  the  Albi- 
genses,  24;  possessed  Peter 
Waldo's  translation  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, 39. 

Pellice,  the  river,  49,  51. 

"  Perfect,"  the,  31,  38. 

Perosa,  the  valley  of,  49,  50,  51  ; 
the  towns  of,  52  ;  the  Walden- 
ses in,  54  ;  the  pest  in,  103,  105, 
116,  126,  134. 

Pest  of  1630,  the,  102-110. 

Peter,  Saint,  the  prophecies  of,  33 ; 
Pope  Innocent  VIII.  the  pre- 
tended successor  of,  64. 


Peter  the  Waldo,  of  Lyons,  8 ;  the 
founder  of  the  ancient  church  of 
the  Cottian  Alps,  25  ;  death  of, 
25  ;  never  recognized  by  the 
Waldenses  as  their  head,  25  ;  his 
various  names,  26 ;  his  birth,  26 ; 
early  education  of,  26;  crisis  in 
the  life  of,  26;  denounces  the 
Roman  Church,  27;  devotes 
himself  to  missionary  labors,  27 ; 
gives  his  property  to  the  poor, 
28 ;  his  separation  from  his 
family,  28  ;  persecuted  by  the 
Archbishop  of  Lyons,  29 ;  flees 
into  Picardy,  29  ;  his  preaching, 
30 ;  his  converts,  30 ;  the  "  Noble 
Lesson "  attributed  to,  34  ; 
makes  a  translation  of  the 
Scriptures,  39. 

Petrobrusians,  the,  20. 

Pianezza,  Marquis  of,  a  conspic- 
uous persecutor  of  the  Walden- 
ses, 78  ;  characteristics  of,  78  ; 
his  perfidious  attack  on  the  Wal- 
denses, 80;  defeats  the  Wal- 
denses by  treachery,  81-84. 

Pian  Pra,  the,  112. 

Picardy,  29. 

Piedmont,  7;  Peter  the  Waldo  in, 
29,  47 ;  invaded  by  a  French 
army,  103 ;  martyrdom  in, 
120. 

Piedmont,   the  plain  of,   48,  49, 

53>  63,  94,  127- 

Piedmontese,  the,  attack  the  Wal- 
denses, 88. 

Piedmontese  Alps,  the,  135,  143. 

Piedmontese  Waldensian  valleys, 
the,  54 ;  glorious  return  of  the 
Waldenses  to,  86. 

Pinerolo,  65,  69,  130,  150;  re- 
joicing over  the  emancipation  of 
the  Waldenses  at,  152,  160. 

Pinerolo,  the  Abbey  of,  126. 

Planghere,  Saguet  de,  68. 

Po,  the  valley  of  the,  116. 


Index 


171 


Pons,  Signor,  the  Waldensian 
pastor,  1 01. 

Poor  Men  of  Lyons,  the,  disciples 
of  Peter  the  Waldo,  29 ;  perse- 
cuted by  the  Archbishop  of 
Lyons,  29  ;  later  persecution  of, 

3°.  38- 

Porta  Pia,  breach  of,  at  Rome,  157. 

Pra  del  Tor,  the  school  of  the 
barbes  at,  57,  59  ;  the  Count  of 
Trinity  tries  to  surprise,  75  ;  the 
Waldensian  victory,  75. 

Pragela,  the  barbes  of,  71. 

Pramol,  the  town  of,  104. 

Prangins,  114;  monument  dedi- 
cated to  the  Waldensian  heroes 
at,  156. 

Preaching  friars,  the,  30. 

Prins,  David,  85. 

Prins,  James,  85. 

Prochet,  Dr.  Matteo,  159,  160. 

Propaganda,  the  Congregation  of, 
motto  of,  78. 

Propaganda  Fede,  the  College  of 
the,  established  to  persecute  the 
Waldenses,  54. 

Provence,  the  Albigenses  in,  20 ; 
the  Waldenses  send  a  colony  of 
farmers  into,  52  ;  exterminated 
by  the  Inquisitors,  53,  63,  97 ; 
persecution  in,  124. 

Prussia,  contributes  money  to  the 
Waldenses,  144. 

Prussia,  the  Ambassador  of,  col- 
lects money  for  the  Waldenses, 
144. 

Publicans,  the,  20. 

Puglie,  the  Waldenses  send  a  col- 
ony to,  53;  destroyed,  53. 

Pyrenees,  the,  8. 

Queyras,  the  valley  of,  52. 

Racconis,  Count  of,  126. 
Raynouard,   Mr.,  on   the  "  Noble 
Lesson,"  35. 


Reformation,  the,  2,  54. 

Regidor,  the,  59. 

Reinerius,  the  Inquisitor,  31. 

Renee,  Duchess  of  Este,  133. 

Revel,  Pierre,  of  Angrogna,  67. 

Rheims,  15. 

Richelieu,  Cardinal,  103. 

Roman  Church,  the,  its  antagon- 
ism to  the  Waldenses,  1  ;  the 
immoderate  endowment  of,  8 ; 
the  idolatry  and  corruption  of, 
18 ;  the  Albigenses  form  to 
resist  the  tyranny  of,  21  ;  Peter 
Waldo  denounces,  27 ;  Cesar 
Baronius  laments  the  corruption 
of,  61 ;  he  submits  to,  62 ;  Yo- 
lande  orders  the  Waldenses  to 
return  to,  63. 

Roman  Inquisition,  the,  99. 

Romaunt  languages,  the  ancient, 

32>  34,  57- 
Rome,  Waldensian  churches  at,  1, 

5,  6 ;  the  seven  hills  of,  34 ;  to 

blame  for  the  Waldensian  per- 
secution, 79,  98. 
Rora,  the  town  of,  51  ;  burned  by 

the  Count   of   Trinity,   76,   79 ; 

heroically  defended  by  Janavel, 

in,  131. 
Rora,  the  valley  of,  49,  116. 
Rorenco,   prior   of   St.   Rock,   on 

the  antiquity  of  the  Waldenses, 

12. 
Rospart,  the  river,  51. 
Royale,    Madame,    see    Cristina, 

Maria. 
Rozel,  Daniel,  of  Bobi,  105. 
Russia,  Czar  of,  see  Alexander  I. 

Sacco,  Reinerius,  an   Inquisitor, 

on  the  "  Leonists,"  7. 
Sadoleto,    Cardinal,    becomes     a 

friend  of  the  Waldenses,  140 ; 

his  sudden  death,  140. 
Saint  Germain,  the  town  of,  raids 

on,  126,  127. 


172 


Index 


Saint  John,  the  heights  of,  66  ;  the 
Waldenses  attacked  on,  81,  117. 

Saint  Martin,  105. 

Saint  Remi,  the  library  of,  15. 

Saint  Rock,  12. 

Saluzzo,  Marquis  of,  131. 

Saluzzo,  Marchioness  of,  131. 

Saluzzo,  Waldensian  colony  at, 
51 ;  destroyed,  53  ;  the  inhabit- 
ants take  possession  of  their 
homes,  116. 

Saluzzo,   the  marquisate  of,  128. 

San  Giovanni,  the  heights  of,  66 ; 
Varaglia  at,  124  ;  rejoicing  over 
the  emancipation  of  the  Wal- 
denses at,  152. 

San  Martino,  the  valley  of,  49,  50, 
51  ;  the  towns  of,  52  ;  the  Wal- 
denses in,  54;  the  Waldenses 
attacked  in,  68 ;  their  victory, 
69  ;  the  pest  in,  103,  134. 

San  Secondo,  the  town  of,  attacked 
by  Janavel  and  Jahier,  113. 

San  Sisto,  the  town  of,  96 ;  the 
Waldenses  massacred  at,  100. 

San  Vincenzo,  the  town  of,  96. 

Saracens,  the,  persecute  the  Chris- 
tians, 37 ;  conquered  by  Charles 
Martel,  37;  Godfrey  de  Bouil- 
lon, takes  Jerusalem  from,  37; 
the  typical  enemies  and  perse- 
cutors of  Christians,  37. 

Sardinia,  King  of,  see  Charles 
Albert. 

Sartoris,  Nicholas,  martyrdom  of, 
125. 

Saviour,  the,  three  Magi  at  the 
cradle  of,  37. 

Savoy,  115. 

Savoy,  Dukes  and  Duchesses  of, 
bigotry  of,  3  ;  reluctant  to  perse- 
cute the  Waldenses,  140. 

Savoy,  the  mountains  of,  54,  92. 

Saxony,  the  Elector  of,  142. 

Scriptures,  the,  Peter  Waldo 
makes  a  translation  of,  39. 


Seyssel,  Claude,  Archbishop  of 
Turin  on  the  origin  of  the 
Waldenses,  7.  See  also  Claudio, 
Bishop. 

Sibaud,  oath  taken  by  the  Wal- 
densians  at,  5  ;  reunion  of  the 
Waldenses  at,  158. 

Sicily,  1. 

Simeon,  converted,  23 ;  becomes 
Constantine's  successor,  24 ; 
burned,  24. 

Sollaro,  Octavia,  marriage  of,  137  ; 
her  fidelity  to  her  faith,  137  ; 
death  of,  138. 

Sollaro,  Villanora,  the  noble  family 
of,  128,  137. 

"  Song  of  Roland,"  the  old  Pro- 
vencal, 36. 

Spain,  8. 

Spinello,  Marquis  of,  94  ;  founds 
the  colony  at  Calabria,  94,  96. 

Spoleto,  the  Waldenses  at,  53. 

Stephen,  22. 

Stewart,  Rev.  Robert,  of  Scotland, 
aid  given  the  Waldensian  mis- 
sions by,  147 ;  mural  tablet  in 
honor  of,  147. 

Stoicism,  123. 

Subiasc,  the  river,  51. 

Sweden,  156. 

Swiss,  the,  89. 

Swiss  pastors,  the,  102,  120. 

Switzerland,  the  Waldenses  driven 
into,  4,  89 ;  the  Waldenses  in, 
54  ;  the  Waldenses  escape  from, 
86  ;  promises  to  detain  the  Wal- 
denses, 90 ;  sympathy  shown 
the  Waldenses  by  the  people  of, 
141  ;  contributes  money  to  the 
Waldenses,  144. 

Sylvester,  Pope,  7  ;  avarice  of,  8. 

Synod  of  the  barbes,  the,  59. 

Taillaret,  the  town  of,  burned 

by  Pianezza,  82. 
Tavola,  the,  149. 


Index 


*73 


Thirteen    Lakes,    the,    plain    of, 

50- 
Th  race,  24. 

Tiber,  the  river,  99. 

Torre  di  Nona,  the  dungeon  of,  at 
Rome,  99. 

Torre  Pellice,  73  ;  Pianezza's  per- 
fidious attack  on,  80;  the  synod 
held  at,  156,  160. 

Toulouse,  20. 

Turin,  Waldensian  churches  at, 
1  ;  "wholly  given  to  idolatry," 
14,  48  ;  Geoffroy  Varaglia  burned 
at,  61,  82,  84,  87,  88,  89,  116, 
124,  151  ;  rejoicing  over  the 
emancipation  of  the  Waldenses 
at,  153. 

Turin,  Archbishop  of,  see  Seyssel, 
Clatide,  7. 

Turin,  the  Council  of,  urges  Charles 
Emanuel  II.  against  the  Wal- 
denses, 79  ;  its  decree  against  the 
Waldenses,  79 ;  the  Waldenses 
appeal  to,  79. 

Turin,  the  Senate  of,  128 ;  pro- 
hibits the  publication  of  Pope 
Innocent  XII's.  bull  against  the 
Waldenses,  158. 

Turinese,  the,  153. 

Turrel,  General,  death  of,  115. 

Triclavianism  condemned  by  Pope 
Innocent  III.,  38. 

Trinity  College,  established  at  La 
Torre,  145. 

Trinity,  Count  of,  attempts  to  de- 
feat the  Waldenses  by  treachery, 
74  ;  foiled,  74 ;  tries  to  surprise 
l'ra  del  Tor,  75  ;  his  defeat,  75  ; 
burns  the  town  of  Rora,  76  ;  his 
army  recalled,  77. 

Trent,  the  Council  of,  recommen- 
dation of,  78. 

Ultramontanes,  the,  60. 
United     States,    the,    contributes 
money  to  the  Waldenses,  145. 


Uscegli,  Mark,  the  martyrdom, 
99. 

Val  Clusone,  52;  synod  at,  61, 
102. 

Valden,  26. 

Valdenses  of  Piedmont,  see 
Waldenses* 

Valdensis,  26. 

Valdensius,  26. 

Val  de  Pragela,  52,  102. 

Valdis,  26. 

Valdius,  26. 

Valdo,  26. 

Vallenses,  the,  53. 

Val  Louise,  44,  52,  68,  102. 

Val  Pellice,  the  valley  of,  49. 

Val  Perosa,  52. 

Val  San  Martino,  hospital  founded 
in,  145  ;  sham  fight  at,  159. 

Varaglia,  Geoffroy,  burned  at 
Turin,  61  ;  story  of,  123,  125. 

Vatican,  the,  47. 

Vaudois,  the,  evil  meaning  at- 
tached to  the  word,  41  ;  con- 
tradictory accounts  given  of,  44  ; 
tribute  of  Louis  XII.  to,  44. 
See  also  Waldenses. 

Vaudra,  26. 

Vaulderie,  evil  meaning  attached 
to  the  word,  41. 

Venice,  Waldensian  churches  at, 
1  ;  the  Waldenses  in,  54. 

Vicenza,  the  Waldenses  at,  53. 

Victor  Amedeus  II.,  Duke  of 
Savoy,  the  prince  of  the  Wal- 
denses, 3  ;  drives  the  Waldenses 
into  Switzerland,  4 ;  loyalty  of 
the  Waldenses  to,  4  ;  orders  the 
Waldenses  to  cease  the  exercise 
of  their  religion,  87  ;  joins  the 
league  of  William  of  Orange, 
93  ;  promises  made  to  the  Wal- 
denses by,  141 . 

Victor  Emanuel  Ferdinand,  Prince 
of  Naples,  4. 


174 


Index 


Vigilantius   Leo,   the  Leonist  of 

Lyons,     8 ;    work    of,    8 ;    his 

charges     against      Jerome,     8 ; 

Jerome's  violent  answer  to,  9; 

retires   to    Cisalpine    Gaul    for 

safety     from     persecution,     9  ; 

references  of  Dun  gal  to,  13. 
Vignaux,   Pastor   John  of  Villar, 

death  of,  104. 
Villafranca,  84,  117. 
Villar,  the  town  of,  51,  73,  76,  79, 

141. 
Violante,  see  Yolande. 
Viso,  Mount,  1,  48  ;  the  "  Jungfrau 

of  the  South,"  49. 
Vittoria,     Waldensian      churches 

at,   1. 

Waldenses,  the  Italian,  location 
of,  1  ;  their  growth,  1  ;  their 
churches,  1  ;  persecution  of,  2 ; 
refuse  to  recognize  the  Roman 
pontiff,  2 ;  their  love  of  the 
Bible,  2  ;  never  failed  in  patri- 
otic love  and  service  to  their 
country,  3  ;  driven  into  Switzer- 
land by  Victor  Amedeus  II.,  4  ; 
guard  the  Alps  against  the  in- 
roads of  Louis  XIV.,  4 ;  the 
pariahs  and  outcasts  of  Italy,  4; 
restrictions  of,  4;  their  lack  of 
bitterness  and  revenge,  4;  their 
fidelity  to  their  oath,  5 ;  their 
"  barbes,"  5 ;  their  mission 
churches,  5 ;  their  origin  and 
traditions,  6;  evidences  of  their 
early  Christian  origin,  6-9; 
meaning  of  the  name,  8  ;  con- 
fession presented  to  Francis  I. 
by,  10;  their  supplication  to 
Emanuel  Philibert  of  Savoy,  10; 
refuse  to  be  called  a  Reformed 
Church,  11;  in  the  Cottian 
Alps,  12 ;  Bishop  Claude,  12- 
16;  without  a  bishop,  16;  ex- 
tent  of  the  influence    of  their 


church,  17;  joined  by  the  Al- 
bigenses,  18  ;  never  recognized 
Peter  Waldo  as  their  head,  25  ; 
the  historian  Botta  on  the  name 
of,  29  ;  marvellous  growth  of,  30  ; 
the  "Noble  Lesson"  of,  32^ 
believe  the  Papacy  to  be  the 
predicted  Antichrist,  33  ;  a  per- 
secuted and  suffering  race,  40; 
accusations  against,  40 ;  op- 
pressed by  the  Inquisitors,  41  ; 
the  lovely  modesty  and  humility 
of,  42  ;  their  converts,  43  ;  de- 
scribed by  Saint  Bernard,  43  ; 
their  contempt  of  death  and  suf- 
fering, 44 ;  Leger  on,  44 ;  their 
principal  occupations,  45  ;  their 
type,  45 ;  Muston  and  Henri 
Martin  on,  45  ;  Charles  Albert, 
King  of  Sardinia,  gives  a  charter 
of  liberty  to,  46 ;  prohibitions 
of,  46;  their  location,  48,  49; 
send  a  colony  of  farmers  into 
Provence,  52  ;  send  colonies  to 
Calabria  and  the  Puglie,  53  ;  the 
missions  of,  53  ;  their  friendship 
for  the  German  reformers,  54 ; 
the  College  of  the  Propaganda 
Fede  established  to  persecute, 
54;  their  barbes,  55-62;  their 
missionary  zeal  the  cause  of 
their  persecution,  60;  their 
thirty-three  persecutions,  63 ; 
ordered  by  Yolande  to  return  to 
the  Roman  Church,  63  ;  Pope 
Innocent  VIII.  issues  a  bull 
of  extermination  against,  64 ; 
troops  sent  against,  64 ;  their 
touching  appeal,  65  ;  their  won- 
derful victories,  66-69;  peace 
made  by,  69 ;  the  German  Refor- 
mation revives  the  faith  of,  70  ; 
ordered  to  attend  mass,  71 ; 
their  response  in  arms,  72 ;  at- 
tacked by  the  garrison  of  Villar, 
73;  their  victory,  73;  the  Count 


Index 


75 


of  Trinity  fails  in  his  treachery 
against,  74  ;  their  success  against 
their  enemies,  76 ;  Emanuel 
Philibert  grants  amnesty  to, 
yy  ;  Margaret,  Duchess  of  Savoy, 
gains  clemency  for,  yy ;  the 
Marquis  of  Pianezza,  a  con- 
spicuous persecutor  of,  78 ;  the 
Council  of  Turin  urges  Charles 
Emanuel  II.  against,  79;  the 
decree  against,  79  ;  their  appeal 
to  the  Council  of  Turin,  79 ; 
Pianezza's  perfidious  attack  on 
Torre  Pellice,  80 ;  their  escape 
to  the  heights,  80 ;  attacked 
on  all  sides,  81  ;  their  successful 
defence,  81 ;  deceived  by  Pia- 
nezza's treachery,  82-84  >  tneu" 
glorious  return  in  1689,  86 ; 
escape  from  Switzerland,  86; 
ordered  by  Victor  Amedeus  II. 
to  cease  the  exercise  of  their 
religion,  $y ;  attacked  by  the 
French  and  the  Piedmontese,  88  ', 
the  exile  into  Switzerland,  89; 
their  return  from  Switzerland, 
91-93  ;  their  colony  at  Calabria 
exterminated,  100 ;  their  lan- 
guage violently  changed,  102 ; 
the  pest  of  1630,  102  ;  Italian 
in  sentiment,  no;  martyrs  of, 
120-129;  persecuted  by  women, 
130,  131;  Bersour's  invasion 
upon,  132;  friendship  of  Mar- 
guerite of  Valois  for,  133;  their 
touching  appeal  to,  133;  Mar- 
guerite of  Valois  places  Gov- 
ernor Castrocaro  over,  135  ;  the 
martyrdom  of  their  women, 
I3°-I39  5  their  friends,  140-147; 
Yolande's  persecution  of,  141  ; 
Madame  Royale's  persecution 
of,  141  ;  Carlo  Emanuel  prom- 
ises to  protect,  141  ;  value  of 
Dr.  Gilly's  writings  to,  145  ;  Gen. 


Beckwith's  devotion  to,  145, 146; 
assistance  given  by  Rev.  Robert 
Stewart  to,  147 ;  the  darkness  of 
centuries  gradually  disappearing, 
150  ;  efforts  made  for  the  eman- 
cipation of,  150;  constitutional 
charter  of  liberty  granted  to,  1 5 1 ; 
rejoicing  over  the  emancipation 
of,  151-155;  the  Bi-centenary 
of  their  "glorious  return,"  156- 
161 ;  monument  dedicated  at 
Prangins  to  the  heroes  of,  156; 
their  reunion  at  Sibaud,  158 ; 
resolute  resistance  to  the  papal 
power  over,  158 ;  friendship  of 
King  Humbert  for,  159. 

Waldensian  Church,  the,  extent  of 
its  influence,  1 7 ;  ancient  em- 
blem of,  17;  Peter  Waldo  the 
founder  of,  25 ;  the  Apostolic 
origin  of,  25  ;  the  Italian  origin 
of,  25. 

Waldensian  House  and  College, 
the,  159. 

Waldensian  literature  destroyed  by 
the  Papists,  57. 

Waldensian  manuscripts,  34. 

Waldensian  valleys  of  Italy,  the, 
26,  37  ;  location  of,  48. 

Waldo,  Peter,  see  Peter  the 
Waldo. 

William  of  Orange  aids  Arnaud 
for  the  Waldenses,  91 ;  Victor 
Amedeus   II.  joins  the   league 

of,  93- 

Women  courageously  share  in  the 
Waldensian  persecutions,  130; 
their  martyrdom  in  the  Pied- 
montese Alps,  135-139" 

Wurtemberg,  90. 

Yolande  orders  the  Waldenses 
to  return  to  the  Roman  Church, 
63  ;  her  persecution  of  the  Wal- 
denses, 130,  141. 


Date  Due 


Q  15  4* 


-i*L 


M4h  j  ft  t<  > 


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JA2    '5;j 


-  '     -      ;■' 


AM 





FACULTY 


*"%  BW1680.B69 

A  short  history  of  the  Italian  Waldenses 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1   1012  00068  4862 


